The Mulan Kingdom

The night was about to come and the sky was about to turn dark. At the moment, the Royal Palace of the Mulan Kingdom was quite different than it usually was. There were colorful lights hanging everywhere.

The gate of the palace was usually shut, but tonight it was wide open. There were two guards in front of the gate, one was holding a long spear while the other one had a grand broadsword.

Aside from that, from the gates, there was a line of Royal cavalry holding their long spears or broadswords on each side leading all the way to the middle hall. Their weapons were emitting a cold aura under the colorful lights of the whole palace.

All the streets and roads around the palace had been cleaned up long ago. many royal guards were patrolling along the sides of the roads with their weapons in hand. With such a tight security, it would be almost impossible for someone to breath heavily or fart without the guards hearing them.

Within the Grand Hall of the royal palace, there were many tables placed on each side of the hall. The tables were very long and had a rectangle shape of some sort.

Each table was filled with all kind of good foods and wine. There was a lovely atmosphere in the hall and the people were chatting and laughing happily.

It was pretty hard for all those people to gather in one place while pretending to be in harmony with one another, all because they wanted to please and have a good relationship with the 4th price who was sitting in the seat honor.

" 4th Imperial prince your Highness, how long are you planning to stay in the Royal capital." Asked a young man that was seated on the seat that was in front of Shad. This young man was finely dressed. He looked a little bit like Roman but more cunning. His bearing was extraordinary and although he looked two years older than Shad, he exuded a subtle hint of mature manner. This youth was none other than Hegel, the 2nd prince of the Mulan kingdom and also one the person most likely to succeed the throne if Roman failed to do so. Besides him, there were another two princes that were still on the run. they were Macken and Robbert, and they were all sitting on the same tables with Shad.

Macken seemed to be more scholarly and quite while Robbert was more outgoing and proud.

" Not sure, probably two weeks. The most pressing matter right now is the situation of the southern region of the Mulan kingdom. This thing can't be going for too long. " Answered Shad with a hint of displeasure on his voice.

Instead of putting all their energies and their powers into stabilizing the situation of the southern region of their kingdom, these people preferred fighting against one another for the throne. In the meantime, the Nicholas Empire was eating away and taking over their territory through a group of well-armed bandits bit by bit.

Most of the mountains and the roads that lead to other dukedoms and territories throughout the kingdom were infested with bandits who made the lives of the merchants a living hell as they robbed their merchandises and even killed them.

Aside from that, some of the Dukes and other powerful nobles cut ties with the Royal family and even allied themselves with the Nicholas empire in secret, those nobles mostly live from the South part of the Kingdom as it was closer to the Nicholas Empire than the Djage.

While all these were happening, The sons of the King were fighting for a throne that might not even exist in the next two years if they ignored the threat of the Nicholas empire.

" If you would allow me, It would be a pleasure for me to follow you in your quest in the southern region of the kingdom. This kingdom was created by our family, so it would be a shame for us to let you do all the work while we enjoying our carefree lives within the capital."

Listening to Shad's answered to his younger brother, Roman knew that Shad was not very pleased with how they were handling things from his tone. He can't blame him because this was the truth. They have indeed done nothing while their kingdom was being eaten away from a foreign empire. They knew that as long as their kingdom was affiliated with the Djage Empire, the Imperial family would never let the Nicholas Empire occupied the Mulan Kingdom because it was like a frontier that separated the two empires from the south, especially the Royal capital which was like three days away from the Djage Empire. The Mulan Kingdom was like a State of the Djage Empire.

" Suit yourself, But right now the Mulan kingdom is an affiliated kingdom of the Djage Empire, whether it was its people or lands.they are all under the protection of the Djage Empire. "

As he was saying that his eyes glanced at each side halls with coldness and he shouted loudly," I don't give a rat ass who is! The royal family, noble clans, lords. No matter who he is, even if he is the king of the kingdom himself. if anyone dares to mess with the interest of the Djage Empire or colluded with the Nicholas empire for their own greed and ambitions, I will kill him, I will them all including your clans. You won't even see it coming."

" Believe me, I will find you and I will make you do things that will hunt you for the rest of your life. Too bad, I was trying to use that bastard Richard as an example but I realized that he was the only bad apple from his family."

An aura of extreme fierceness spread out along with his voice. In the meantime, His eyes turned white as he purposely invoked the Hawkeye which made him looked that the death god.

The whole hall went silent, they people inside didn't even dare to breathe heavily. They looked at each other to see the other's reaction. Each of them had a different expression on their faces, some seemed to be vexed, mad, and uncomfortable. In short, none of them had a good expression on their faces.

Not only that, from what the 4th prince had just said. It seemed like the incident about Richard trying to kill the 3rd prince of the Nicolas Empire wasn't as simple as it seemed. It seemed like it had something related to the 4th price, but how?. they couldn't wait for this banquet to be over so they could send their own spies to investigated that event thoroughly. As for those that had some ties with the 3rd prince, they couldn't wait to get some information about that incident from him.

Furthermore, everyone in the hall knew that those were not empty words. From the looks of things, he seemed like the 4th prince did not come here on vacation but on a cleanup mission.

Shad wasn't good at scheming or setting a trap. He didn't plan on spending much time in the capital to investigate the noble's family, he used the simplest way to draw them to him if they have the balls. He did not care about diplomacy or get close them, he will use pure strength to crush them all and put them on the line. Right now, he wasn't not only represent himself but the Imperial family. The Mulan Kingdom was an affiliated kingdom of the Djage Empire and nothing could ever change that unless they were strong enough to challenge the authority of the Djage Empire.

While there was this tense atmosphere within the hall, a smiling voice rang out from outside the hall.

" Haha, 4th imperial prince, you are so vigorous with those words, but I like it. You reminded me of my younger days where a man did not use schemes to get what they want but their fist."

As this voice reverberated, there came a middle-aged man who was in an azure king robe. Behind him were several Royal guards who seemed to be helpless.

Everyone within the room was shocked except for Shad.

Al of them quickly kneeled down and said." Long live the king."

The man that suddenly interrupted the 4th prince speech was none other than the King himself. The ruler of the Mulan Kingdom.

Goerge Lorence!

It was Shad's first time to see the king himself. He was about fifty years old. His eyes were very sharp as a needle and his body was giving out a fearsome aura. Shad could tell from a glance that he was an early 7th rank warrior, not a mage. From what he could tell, the Kind didn't look sick at all or maybe he was pretty good at hiding his sickness, But his great-grandfather had said that the king was really sick so he must be true.

The king walked in big strides as though he was a dragon among man. He was extremely different from the Crown price as well the other princes despite having some resemblance.

People in the Hall including the crown prince Roman all kneeled down except for Shad. The only person he ever kneeled in front was his father emperor and sometimes his mother, other than that he had never kneeled in front of anyone, not to mention this King in front of him. He was not one of his subjects. One could even say that it was the other way around.

" Get up now, all of you. I am only passing by. " The king looked around and said.

" I always wanted to meet you, Shad. Your old man talked highly of you but always lamented the fact that you had zero interest in the throne," he said as he was looking as Shad as though he was one of his children.

The king's gaze was profound and deep. The crowd within the hall were like clay figures in front of him as he ignored them completely. As he was talking to Shad, he was smiling gently, and a sense of friendliness permeated his smile.

" Greeting your highness." Seeing how amicable the king was, Shad could not help but answered him with the same politeness. From the first look, the King seemed like a neat person.

" Just call me uncle Goerge. Anyway, your old man had told me that you were perfect for this job. Do whatever you have to do. It was supposed to be me cleaning up this mess, but my body had reached his limit due to some unforeseen event. I wish I could tell you who to trust, but I have been in bed for so long that I don't even know the real situation of the kingdom, everything that I know was from some reports that I have received."

" I will provide you with 600 hundred more men for your journey, they are all elites and I guarantee you that there are no spies within them. Also, take one of those worthless bastards with you." He said while looking at his three sons with a hint of displeasure.

" I wish you luck, most people believe that the southern region is a lost cause, but I hope that you will prove them wrong." The king said with a smile on his face.

"Cough, Cough......"

" Royal father."

" My King."

" Your Highness, you can't stay too long outside. it's time for your medicine." Said one of the Royal guards at the king was coughing non-stop. Traces of blood could be seen oozing out from his mouth as he was coughing.

Before Shad could even have a serious conversation with the King, the royal guards took him away.

'It seemed like the King was really sick.' Thought Shad as he was looking at his back leaving the hall. He really wanted to ask him some questions about how he knew his old man. Shad knew that the old man he was talking about was his great-grandfather. In short, Shad had many questions for him, but it seemed like he won't be possible to ask them tonight.