Ben walked out of the palace with the former king slung over his shoulder. A mob of palace officials, assistants, and a few military officers followed behind him in silence.
Most of them were anxious and unsure of what would happen next. They nervously followed along to see what would become of them all. Ben ignored the people following along behind him.
"Mythia, take your sister cultivators back to the wall and inform the generals we have captured the king. Also, tell them to make their way here once the fighting has ended."
The former king began to wake up from the Sleep spell and squirm around on the ground. Soren Knotley began making demands to be released once he found he was now held captive.
"I am the king Trareniel I deserve to be treated with respect! How dare you people treat me like a criminal by binding me like this! Guards cut me free from these bindings!"
Ben squatted down in front of the former king and said, "Let me make this clear, you are no longer the king of Trareniel. Yes, you are a criminal and this is why I have bound you. Was it not you who order your men to invade the Aregard Kingdom?
Your little power move cost the lives of thousands of people in the town of Brandas. The scum you enlisted raped, tortured, and killed over ninety-five percent of the population of that border town. If my troops had not destroyed your army and killed your cultivators they would have continued their atrocities all across the Aregard Kingdom.
Your people now hate you for sending their loved ones off to die for your schemes. The people of Aregard hate you for sending your men to kill their people and I hate you for the loss of twelve of my men who died at the hands of that bastard coward mage you sent along with your army. Once more let me make this clear your fate is sealed so shut your mouth and lay there at my feet like a good little dog."
The former king Soren Knotley was beet red and looked like he was ready to vomit blood after being talked to like this. He still wasn't sure what had even happened., He could only assume this was the King of Avalon who had declared war on him but how did they get through their defenses and capture him so quickly?
As he was biting his tongue to try and remain silent and think of a way to get out of this situation a commotion began to break out in the gathering mob of citizens watching from a distance.
Four men forced their way forward through the crowd scowling as they advanced. Two of them were older looking men and the other two appeared to be upper middle-aged.
The twenty Fairy magi and the ten intimidating Half-Giants moved up behind Ben when they saw these four richly dressed noble-looking men step forward. As Ben stood up from speaking to Soren Knotley to look at the four men they stopped to look between the captured former king and the party surrounding Ben.
An older looking man who appeared to have led them then spoke to break the silence, "We are cultivators of the Trareniel Kingdom! Release the king and march your troops out of the Trareniel kingdom or we will be forced to make move!"
"Oh? So the self-indulgent elders decided to leave their closed-door cultivation and grace everyone here with their presence? Trareniel Kingdom? Trareniel King? I'm sorry I can't comply with your demands because these two things no longer exist!
As of today there no longer is a Trareniel King or a Trareniel Kingdom! I am the Cultivator King of Avalon, Ben King and from this day forward the Trareniel Kingdom will be absorbed by my Avalon! You cultivators can join us and become stronger under my rule or you can leave to take advantage of another kingdom who will have you!"
The old man who had spoken was grinding his teeth in anger at Ben's words. No one ever had spoken so disrespectfully to him before! They were cultivators who were put on a pedestal above all others! Their own king would not even speak to them in such a manner! If Ben had not made it known he was a cultivator he would have instantly torn this young man into little pieces already!
"You call us elders and your seniors but you talk down to us and disrespect us? It seems this elder will need to discipline the younger generation if this disrespectful attitude continues!" The old man shouted.
The old man then projected his aura to apply pressure to Ben. This old man was a Stage four: Level Eight cultivator who was only second to the deceased Trareniel Royal Cultivator. He had been cultivating for close to one hundred years and some young boy who happens to be a king and a cultivator was talking down to him? He was going to show him the true power of a cultivator.
The old man assumed Ben was at most a low-level Stage Two cultivator. It took years of dedicated cultivation to reach his current stage and Ben was now about to get a taste of that dedication!
With a wicked smile, the old man looked on waiting to see Ben crushed to the ground begging for forgiveness. The old man was even thinking, maybe I will let him live if he offers me some nice things? If he is a king he must have many nice things lying around?
The old man's daydream was interrupted though when he saw Ben walking toward him. Ben was actually not a Stage Two cultivator, he was a Stage Six: Level Seven cultivator now! Ben was two full Stages above this overconfident cultivator!
This old man's projected aura was equivalent to Ben wearing a backpack with a couple of school textbooks in it. His attributes were beyond what a normal cultivator at his Stage would possess. If he were to fight another Stage Six: Level Seven cultivator Ben would overpower him. He not only cultivated but he could advance his adeptness through training and pills.
Ben's Immortal Strengthening Technique is a godly technique which was picked to perfectly fit his genetics! This technique continues to increase the bonus to his attributes with every Stage breakthrough!
The people of this world were still in the infancy of cultivating they were using hand-me-down cultivation techniques they were given, bought, or stole. They might be cultivators but that did not mean the techniques they were using properly fit their constitution.
As the old man refocused his cultivation and tried to stop Ben it was no use. The young man stalked forward with the look of a predator who found its prey. The three cultivators behind the old man knew what was happening they could feel the aura projection and saw the elder straining before them, but the young man was unstoppable.
Ben stood in front of the old man and menacingly said, "I take it this is your answer then? You might be my elder in age, but you are not my elder in cultivation!"
"W-hat are you?! H-ow are you not...submitting!?" The old man gasped out his words as he still tried to dominate Ben with his aura.
Ben smiled wickedly and said, "As I said I am the cultivator king of Avalon, Ben King.
I am a Stage Six: Level Seven cultivator! Oh, and I will let you in on a little secret."
Ben leaned in mockingly and whispered, "I am also a mage."
Ben reached out and grabbed the stunned old man by the throat and cast Lightning Bolt at Expert: Level Two. It was much more damaging than it was during the Sandy River battle where it only worked like a taser.
The old man looked like he was subjected to an electric chair. His muscles locked up and he began to shake and quiver as large arcs of electricity danced across his entire body. When Ben dropped him tendrils of smoke rose from his still twitching body. It wasn't enough to kill the old man but he would be unconscious for sometime.
Ben looked over his shoulder and called out to the closest Half-Giant, "Olvag, can you do me a favor and please toss this trash over the city wall over there for me?"
He pointed to the twitching old man on the ground and the city wall a couple streets over.
The large Half-Giant laughed as he nodded. Olvag grabbed the old man around the waist with one hand and ran off toward the wall like he was carrying a dead rat.
Ben shook his head at the strength these Half-Giants possessed as he watched the old man launched about thirty yards over the wall looking like a rag-doll twisting through the air.
He turned his attention back to the other three cultivators who were still watching where their senior cultivator had just been sent flying off to who knows where.
"So gentlemen cultivators, do wish to join your senior over there or are you ready to join the Avalon Kingdom? I will also understand if you wish to find a new kingdom as a home if you hate me, but I wouldn't recommend Brandomma Kingdom because I will be paying them a visit with my troops next."
The three cultivators robotically turned back toward Ben and nodded in unison.
"Hmm? If you do not speak I will not understand your reconciliations. Yes, you want to join me, or yes you want free flying lessons from Olvag?" Ben asked with a slight smile.
"JOIN! We want to join Avalon!" They all yelled out quickly, now afraid to anger this young man.
Too many unbelievable things had just happened and they were still trying to sort it all out. A young man who is a Stage Six: Level Seven cultivator and powerful mage had become the enemy of Trareniel! He easily defeated their troops, captured their king and treated the second strongest cultivator in the kingdom like trash by tossing him away!
At this time Mythia had made her way back with the ten female cultivators and the generals. The troops were marching behind them and it seemed they had captured a large amount of Brandomma troops who had surrendered.
Mythia stopped and walked over to the grass near the palace garden and gave the former king a solid kick to the ribs. During the confrontation with the cultivators, he tried to roll away and escape while still being bound by the zip cuffs!
Everyone was so focused on Ben as he chastised the old man that they did not notice him literally rolling away toward the palace gardens.
"Now you want to roll? I distinctly remember earlier telling you to roll over to me and you chose to attempt an escape! Let's try it one more time, shall we? Roll your ass over here!"
The former king attempted to ignore Ben who looked at Mythia and nodded. A nasty kick slammed into his ribs again and a coating of ice could be seen creeping across his exposed skin. Mythia had applied her frozen Yin Qi to the kick and the king had turned into an icicle for a couple of seconds.
Uggghh!
Knotley cried out in pain after he unfroze from the kick he received and was thinking it may have broken a rib or two.
"I don't think you want to remain over there. That young lady is Princess Mythia of my Avalon Kingdom. She is also a Stage Two cultivator and her parents were tortured and murdered by the Bloody Blades bandits you enlisted into your army. If I give her the word I am sure she would thoroughly enjoy making you suffer until your last breath!"
Soren Knotley looked up in surprise at Mythia. She was glaring down at him like she wanted nothing more than to tear him to shreds and chew the meat from his bones.
How was it possible a pretty young girl like this could make such a bone-chilling face! It scared him so much that he threw away his remaining pride and rolled over to stop at Ben's feet.
Ben placed his foot on the former king's dirty chest and looked down at him in thought.
"It seems we need a way to keep you from trying to slither off every time we turn our heads, hmm."
Ben opened his System Store menu and found the perfect thing for the job. He purchased a medieval stock and locked the king's hands and head in it.
This Stock is the same device shown in old medieval movies where the prisoner was locked by the neck and hands. The commoners would gather around and throw spoiled tomatoes at them while they were on display of the whole town.
Soren Knotley was now the one on display before his gathering of former subjects and he could see the same look in their eyes as the young girl had just shown him. It was a look of pure hatred. He arrogantly kept himself separated from his commoner subjects so this was one of the first times he was face to face with them.
He could only look down in humiliation knowing that no one was coming to save him. His schemes to conquer the continent were crushed due to this young man, the king of Avalon.
The gathered crowd of subjects were nervous about all the strange armored troops around them but they had all heard the rumors of a new kingdom who had declared war on their country.
This invasion was to be expected. It was just shocking how quickly it had began and ended. By the time they left their homes to see where the sound of fighting was coming from the city and the king had been already captured!
Many of them had lost their fathers, sons, and brothers, and in their grief they did not care what became of them now. They only wanted to watch their former king suffer before the conquering army did what they wanted with all of them.
The crowd was full of women, old men, and children. A large portion of Trareniel men between 18-45 years old had joined the kings military training scheme and was eventually forced to invade Aregard.
They had all heard the rumors leaked from the Trareniel palace on how the king had lured their men in with promises of large wages if they were to attend military training. It was only supposed to be training exercise to better prepare their men for battle.
If they could learn how to fight they would have a better chance of surviving if another country ever invaded and they would make decent money while learning.
This was only a scam to secretly form an army and not alert Aregard to their true intentions. Aregard spies would only see them patrolling the borders and training, while never expecting they would suddenly launch an invasion.
Ben walked forward and looked over the gathered crowd of people and spoke up.
"I know you all are worried about what will happen to you, but we have no intention of causing you any harm. Just like all of you, we have also lost loved ones due to this man's actions!"
"I am Ben King the King of Avalon and I have come here to dethrone this bastard! As of today, you are all my Avalon subjects! I hope we can all get along and work to make a better life for all of us!"
"There will be many changes to come to the former Trareniel Kingdom but they will be all good changes! I will work to get this region back on its feet by bringing to it trade, improvements, and security!"
"I still need to take care of a few things since we have just arrived so you should all return home and take heart in the fact that this man will be publicly punished! When the time comes the Messenger Union will inform everyone of the time and date for the former king's sentencing! Now go home and rest my subjects and know that your new king holds your feeling in his heart!"
Ben turned around and found his notification icon flashing. He looked down and opened it to see what had happened.
[Notice!] [Congratulations you have conquered an enemy kingdom! You have defeated an enemy kingdom and captured its king! You have been awarded the Conqueror's Castle!]
[Notice!] [The kingdom you have conquered is now linked to your current build zone! You can now build on any part of the land within its borders!]
[Notice!] [The Conqueror's Castle has been unlocked in your Build Menu!]
[Notice] [Profession: Public Speaker has increased! Public Speaker Level 4!]
Ben was excited to see the new notices which continued to pop up He became a better public speaker, he was awarded a new type of castle and the entire kingdom of Trareniel was now considered part his build zone! This indicated every kingdom he conquered in the future would instantly become land that he could build his system structures on!
The crowd of former Trareniel subjects looked on touched by Ben's words and when they saw him turn around and look down they thought that he was sharing their grief with them and was trying to hide his tears. Ben did feel for his new peoples losses but he was just looking over his notices and not suffering as they thought.
When he heard a commotion from the crowd he turned to see them cheering with tears in their eyes.
"Long live the Avalon king!"
"Please take care of us, your Majesty!"
"We are with you sire! Let's all build a better future together!"
'It seems this Public Speaker Profession really helps to rally the people to my side!'
Ben looked at them with warmth in his heart and waved to everyone with a huge smile. He listened to their cheers before he turned to the palace employees who were still standing behind all of them.