Inside a spacious room filled with entire shelfs of books, behind a T – shape table made of expensive wood, two middle-aged men were sitting opposite to each in comfortable chairs of similar to the table, design.
"Barick, how did it go!?" – said a man who was sitting behind the main desk. He looked to be around 40 years old and was giving off an impression of a learned person. More than two month ago, using his connections he was assigned by imperail decree to be an accountant for the third prince Julius, who never before had an accountant. But things have changed, the prince became mentally retarded and therefore was not able to use his money effectively. When he was assigned, Armani who was his accomplice in many shady deals before, approached him with a certain task, which was to retrieve a tablet from prince Julius's treasure cave. He didn't know what the object was, but taking into the accounted the amount of money Armani promised him, it was not anything to be joking around.
"Come on Claus…what possibly could happen!? It the same as always…Why do we have to make this meeting every time when I pass on the documents" – said a fat man in cook's clothes while being annoyed.
"How many times do I have repeat this, you idiot…if something goes wrong, we both going to end up in prison…Armani can easily buy himself out…but we can't…our lives depend on it…" – said the accountant Claus, clearly being angered by Barick's attitude. However, even when he was angered, Claus was not shouting, and was keeping down his volume, so that no one else other than the two would hear their conversation.
"Man…you have said the thing more than a hundred times…stop being a little nagging old granny, nothing would happen…just relax and chill. I can even cook for you a special dessert." – said Barick picking his nose. Barick was your typical person about whom normal people would feel disgusted after spending with him as little as half an hour. He didn't follow the formal etiquette and didn't know how to follow the normal courtesy. However, he still earned his position as a cook of an imperial family member through his own ability. He was one the few special cook's who could cook the meat of spiritual monsters.
"I pray to Immort…" – Claus could finish what he wanted to say, when suddenly the door to this room was shut open by force.
Barick turned around almost cursing due to the sudden explosive sound, because he involuntarily jumped up.
"Whaaaat aaa f….." – He was ready curse out aloud, when he abruptly shut his mouth. Prince Julius was standing right at the entrance.
"Barick, come with me to play" – said the prince in an innocent voice, which sounded too childish compared to the looks of the said prince.
"Welcome your majesty, Prince Julius, your humble servants are discussing some serious issues with our food expenses, if you don't mind, can I borrow mister Barick for a few more minutes" – said Claus, first bowing to the prince with perfect etiquette used in the Monster Empire with royals. Then in a very soft and kind voice continued to ask for small amount of Barick's time.
"No…No….No…I want to play" – said prince Julius, while acting like a spoiled child.
"Prince Julius, I'll play with you later, and now allow the two big uncles to do their serious business. Okay!?" – Barick said so while clearly being annoyed. For the last 2 month he was pranked by the third prince so many times, that he even lost the count.
"Barick, where are your manners!? Well, we did finish everything that ought to be said, we can finish a bit early as well. The prince if you excuse me…!?" – Claus bowed to prince Julius before he went out of the room.
"See Barick, now you can play with me… You won't believe it, I found such a beautiful place...You never have seen something like it…Let's go my loyal vassal, for the adventures." – said the prince acting as energetically as always, behaving like a child.
[When this annoying person would leave me alone. He looks like a muscular mountain, but behaves like a baby boy, what a pain...] – thinking like this, Barick could only shrug his shoulders, taking a deep breath to calm down and trying hard to not hit the person before him.
Julius grabbed Barick's hand and started to walk in a certain direction pooling the hand every time he took a step. It was quite a view to look at since Barick could be compared to a toy car on a string that a kid would pool every time he took a step, when the velocity would suddenly increase or stop completely. It was funny because of the fact that the people involved in the show were a super muscular shorty in the role of the kid, and the fat man in role of the car.
Barick was surprised by the strength Julius was applying to his hand, he tried to force his hand out from his grab but couldn't do anything about it. The strength of the grab was inhuman, only monster cultivators should have this kind of strength and it was a known fact that prince Julius has lost all of his power. His soul core was damaged which meant he couldn't cultivate or store the monster energy. But now he was applying strength equal to a monster cultivator of Embryon Stage.
They walked for some time, and eventually they got to the top of the highest tower of Julius's palace. Once they've got to the place Julius let go of Barick's hand and went to the edge of the tower platform, a truly wonderful view of the capital opened to their eyes. The city Monster Abide was there since ancient times. Many eras and different ages went down the city's history. Empire after Empire saw their ends, but the city was still there. It had many secrets that even now after a few thousand years of sole Empire rule over the city have not been discovered. The city was creating a fantasy like view since the huge luxury buildings in perfect blending with bizarre vegetation would captivate the mind of the overlooking person.
The tower was more than a few dozen meters tall and people looked very small. Barick coming out from his fascination, looked around and saw that no one was around, which was quite surprizing since there always had to be someone to look after the prince from a distance.
"Prince Julius, it's time to go down! It beautiful here but we can't stay here for too long, I have a job to do!" – said Barick with a sense of uneasiness on his mind. He felt that something was wrong but didn't know what exactly.
Julius didn't turn towards Barick, and was fixedly staring at a certain place, when suddenly a vicious grin has appeared on his face.
"The audience and the performers are ready, it's time to start the show!" – quietly said the prince, while continuing to viciously smile.
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At one of the 4 gates of the palace.
"Lord Armani Empo requesting an audience with Claus, the accountant of the Prince Julius." - shouted a man in the butler uniform facing a huge door with Julius's name on it.
"Lord Empo, please enter, we will deliver the news, to the lord Claus." – an answer came out from somewhere inside the watching towers at both sides of the palace.
At second gate of the palace.
"Open the doors, the Emperor will be coming soon!" – a beautiful woman in a knight's attire came flying on a huge white eagle.
Everyone immediatly recognised the woman, she was a vice-captain of the imperial guard squad.
"It's the vice-captain Anna Katenda, on her Snow Eagle of Body Manifestation Level."
"Open the Gates and bring the red carpet immediately!"
Evan was looking down from the tower platform and saw that the Emperor and the head of the trading guild were coming over exactly as he planned it. He was very familiar with their behaviour since he has been investigating their character. Therefore, he arranged everything in such a way that they would enter the palace about at the same time.
However, even if there was a delay in their arrival, as long as Armani came here first, everything would go according to plan.
Monster cultivators could oversee the surroundings with their soul senses even when something was hidden inside a box. A cultivator on the level of the Emperor could easily perceive an ant that is a dozen kilometres away. The imperial family members couldn't allow any cultivators to oversee their action, therefore all the palaces that the imperial family members owned were protected by special arrays. The arrays blocked the external spiritual energy from getting in.
Evan knowing this was especially waiting for them to enter the palace so that they could witness the things that were about to take place.
Evan turned around to the Barrick who had an annoyed and worried look on his face.
"Barick, tell me, why would you betray me!?"