MarcTempest
Editor: Himanshu02The next day, the delegation finished their preparations to depart for the empire.
“Do you really have no intention of accepting me?”
“I’m sorry, but let’s just compromise as friends.”
“Then I have no choice but to…”
Karim looked regretful, but Eurius firmly refused to take him as his disciple who was ten years older than him.
It would be awkward to become sworn brothers with Karim who was too old for him, and it would be even more shocking if he asked him to treat him as his elder brother.
After bickering for a day, they agreed to be friendly with each other.
‘At least it’s good to have a reliable ally in the desert.’
Just by pulling Karim to his side, he had effectively destroyed one of the pillars of the Grand Duke’s power.
‘And I can use him in reverse as well.’
“Are you sure you don’t need to withdraw the troops you secretly sent to the empire?”
Eurius smiled brightly at Karim’s question.
“Wouldn’t it be better to use them more effectively than withdrawing them?”
Originally, Karim wanted to withdraw his troops from the empire as soon as he began to trust Eurius. But Eurius asked him to keep them stationed there instead.
Karim was not a foolish person either.
He immediately caught on to Eurius’s intention.
“So you want me to pretend to cooperate with the Grand Duke’s side if they ask me to attack the empire, and then counterattack them!”
“That’s right.”
“That’s not a difficult request. I owe you a favor as a friend, so I’ll make sure to fulfill it!”
That way, Eurius not only succeeded in his original goal of forming an alliance with the desert kingdom, but also gained a strong friend.
“Then take care, friend.”
Karim bid farewell to Eurius with a brief greeting.
“Let’s see each other again when the alliance is fully established.”
Eurius also smiled and waved his hand at him.
‘I made a new connection that I didn’t know in my previous life.’
It was a great achievement to make an ally out of the desert kingdom, which he had only regarded as an enemy in his previous life in contrast to the north.
‘But there are still some questions that are not answered.’
He looked at a group of people who were following him from afar.
They were the warriors sent by the Jegal Clan.
“Didn’t you ask me for one condition?”
“I’ll tell you when we arrive at the capital of the empire. I still need some time to think about it.”
Jegal Unhyeon was still calm.
He had given him his inner power and he seemed to have something he wanted, but Eurius couldn’t guess what it was.
‘Well, at least he doesn’t seem to have any suspicious intentions.’
He had gained a new ability to see the psychological state of others this time.
And according to that ability, Jegal Unhyun didn’t seem to have any resentment towards him.
[Jegal Unhyun]
Current state: Curiosity, Doubt
It was natural for him to feel doubtful about Eurius.
‘He doesn’t seem to think that I stole his martial arts or something like that. Then there must be another reason…’
With those questions in mind, Eurius returned to the capital of the empire.
***
“I’m ashamed. Of all times, a civil war broke out there when the first prince went to Parthia.”
“Hmm…”
Wallace, who returned to the empire before Eurius, went straight to the Grand Duke’s territory. He hurriedly started his excuses that he had prepared.
To be fair, there wasn’t much that could be blamed on Wallace in this situation.
He asked Karim for a favor, and although Karim didn’t do it, Eurius was attacked by the Order in Parthia and almost lost his life.
If only looking at the result, Wallace tried hard but was unlucky and failed to take Eurius’s life.
That was how it seemed.
But Wallace was sweating profusely. Even if it was such a situation, his failure was not just once or twice?
‘He won’t cut my neck right away, will he?’
“That’s so? If you were unlucky, there’s nothing you can do about it. Go to the capital and report to the emperor.”
“…!?”
Wales was dumbfounded.
Even though it wasn’t his fault objectively, failure was failure.
He came prepared to face the Grand Duke’s fiery anger, but unexpectedly, he didn’t question Wales.
“I understand.”
Afraid that the Grand Duke’s mind would change, he quickly left the office.
‘Phew! I saved my life this time too. This tightrope walking is really a thankless job!’
While Wallace was sighing with relief, the Grand Duke was thinking of something else.
‘I didn’t expect those useless guys or the desert rats to assassinate the first prince anyway.’
The Grand Duke had raised his evaluation of Eurius significantly after the award ceremony of the last martial arts tournament.
It was a natural judgment for him who didn’t know the existence of the Order.
He decided not to trust his subordinates anymore.
Sending Wallace to the desert was the last step to check that fact.
‘If there is no one around who can deal with the first prince, then I’ll have to do it myself.’
To be honest, it was not very pleasing to his pride to move himself, the strongest warrior in the empire, to catch one prince who had just passed his twenties. But on the other hand, it was also the most certain method.
‘Next time, I’ll do it myself. I can’t do anything while the first prince is in the capital, but he will surely try to execute his plan to checkmate me again somewhere.’
At that point, the Grand Duke’s eyes shone eerily.
‘The next time the first prince leaves the capital, it will be his last outing.’
***
The way back for Eurius and the delegation was smooth and easy.
Unlike when he accompanied Jamir, there were no unnecessary welcomes, and since he had a lot to report, he chose the fastest route and crossed the desert in a straight line.
The delegation was able to return to the capital in less than ten days.
Of course, as soon as he entered the capital, Eurius had to go to the palace and report to him.
“The first prince has returned.”
“I heard that you were injured quite a bit in Parthia’s capital. How are you doing?”
The emperor asked about Eurius’s well-being first.
“It wasn’t a serious injury, so I recovered quickly.”
“That’s good to hear.”
He said that, but the emperor knew Eurius’s skills and asked him with a look.
‘If you were hurt enough, it wouldn’t have been an ordinary situation?’
‘I’ll explain it to you properly later.’
After exchanging glances with him, Eurius checked the emperor’s current state first.
After seeing the king who was poisoned in Parthia, he couldn’t help but worry about him.
[Theopold II von Scharnos]
[Job: Emperor, Intermediate Knight
Status: Worried, Proud, Happy]
He sighed with relief inwardly.
It seemed that no one had tried to harm his father with any tricks so far.
The emperor’s health was as good as ever.
And that made him more suspicious.
No matter how hard it was to detect the intangible poison, the only way to secretly affect him was to inject it little by little and make him addicted.
But the emperor of the empire was the supreme being in the continent. Not to mention his meals, even his every move was guarded by ironclad escorts.
Who would dare to do such a thing?
‘There are only a few people who can use such a method.’
He had suspicions but no evidence yet. But at least he had figured out the enemy’s technique, which was enough to make this desert trip a great success.
After quickly sorting out his doubts about the emperor’s assassination, Eurius opened his mouth again.
“First of all, I will explain the reason for the civil war.”
He began to report slowly what had happened in Parthia.
Of course, he passed off the attack of the Heimdal Order as just assassins hired by Kalihara with Jamir’s help.
The emperor and his ministers gasped in astonishment.
“You arrived in Parthia and faced such a fierce civil war in the capital, but you still managed to form an alliance…”
“To be honest, I was skeptical, but I have to admit that the first prince’s ability is outstanding.
Even the nobles of the Grand Duke faction had to acknowledge Eurius’ achievement this time.
He had fought a fierce battle with the Heimdall Order in Parthia and came back with an alliance despite being injured.
Who could say anything against that?
The emperor looked pleased and asked Eurius for his opinion.
“Then, since we have formed an alliance with Parthia, what do you think about attacking Kalihara right away?”
‘That’s absolutely impossible!’
Eurius shook his head here.
“For now, Parthia is just after a civil war, so it would be too much to join forces with the desert kingdoms and attack Kalihara right now.”
“Hmm…”
The emperor nodded as if he agreed. In fact, Parthia had suffered a lot of damage from the fierce battle with the Heimdal Order in the capital.
It would be possible for Karim to recover quickly with his ability, but he still needed some time.
And even if the other desert kingdoms followed Parthia’s opinion, it would take time to coordinate them since there were three kingdoms in the alliance.
‘And most importantly, now is not the time to attack Kalihara.’
In fact, Eurius wanted to postpone the Kalihara expedition as much as possible.
Kalihara was likely to be the main base of the Heimdal Order, and from what he had experienced in Parthia, he was not sure if he could subdue them with his current power, and even if he did, he would have to pay a huge price.
“We will postpone the Kalihara expedition for a while since you think so.”
The meeting ended with that conclusion and Eurius was finally able to leave the palace with the emperor’s consideration to rest.
But Eurius had no time to relax. He had somewhere to go right after he finished his report.
***
[Azure Dragon Clan Hall]
‘I have no idea what he will ask me.’
Eurius was led to a secret room in the Azure Dragon Clan Hall again with suspicion.
The room already had Jegal Unhyeon, Jegal Geon, and Jegal Hwayoung waiting for him.
‘He said it was a private promise, but why are all the leaders here?’
Jegal Unhyeon still didn’t show much emotion, but the other two were clearly tense.
“First of all, thank you for coming here right away after such a long journey. You must be tired.”
“I’m just as tired as you are.”
Eurius replied casually.
“So what do you want from me?”
“Young friend, you are impatient. Sit down and listen first.”
Jegal Unhyeon said calmly.
“My request is just to ask you a few questions.”
“Questions?”
“About your martial arts and inner power.”
‘As expected!’
Eurius bit his tongue inwardly.
He had used the White Tiger martial arts openly and even absorbed their inner power.
It would be strange if they didn’t question him.
But Jegal Unhyeon’s question was completely different from what Eurius expected.
“Have you ever heard of ‘Four Gods’ or ‘Four Gods Conference’?”
‘Four Gods Conference?’