"Those mother*ckers!"
An old man in his 70 to 80's with white beard, hair and robe threw the glass he was drinking from to the ground and broke.
His eyes are wide and crazed with red veins in them, it could be described that he was a scary old man.
This man was the prime minister of the kingdom of Ethareri, Lazar Morbide.
He was enraged when he heard about the failure of the bandits he hired in capturing or killing the queen.
"They've just wasted the armors and that expensive potion I gave them! Gnugnunununu!!!!" he gripped the staff he was holding tightly while gritting his teeth.
He's currently on the veranda of the mansion he bought in Kydus, together with a woman that seems to be in her 20's sitting behind him wearing a robe most of her face was hidden.
"It's alright, Lazar…" the woman spoke to him from behind.
"What is alright with this situation?! Anyway… I have to find another way…"
"I said it's alright, she was just a side dish after all. My comrades are almost done with the preparations inside Kydus"
With the news Lazar's anger calmed down and his expression got better.
"Really???" said the old man with a smirk written on his face, his face brightened up like a child who has given candy for the first time.
"Yes, when the time is ripe, the Empire will be ours and we will invade that little kingdom that you covet so much" the woman in her violet lipstick smiled.
"And then… I will be King! HAHAHAHA!" the old man's expression got crazed again as he let out a laugh.
And the woman turned around and disappeared.
...
At the capital of Kydus Empire, a large castle stood in the center of it, unlike Ethareri's castle that boasted in its height,the castle built at the center of the empire, even at first look boasted of it's impregnable defense.
It stood surrounded in a moat, at the three layers of curtain walls there were men in white and blue armor standing at the battlements.
Inside these layers were four keeps with towers standing in four corners, and at the center of it, the Kydus Empire's castle stood.
In the castle an old man with white hair sat on the throne, he wore a red cape, and golden armor, for an old man his body is still well-built.
He is the emperor of the Kydus Empire, Hadethius Popannus VII, he closed his eyes he was listening to his prime minister's report.
"Your highness, according to the reports, these bandits that wore our soldiers' armor were tasked to eliminate the queen of the kingdom of Ethareri, Michaela Acirendra, who's traveling back from a meeting with Prince Fracian.
However this failed when her servants did all their best to take her away, this all happened on the Mizar settlement"
The young prime minister reported on his white robe and was wearing round glasses, his blue hair was long and was tied on a ponytail. He's wearing a round hat that signifies his position
"That young girl huh… so how is this related to the houses burned at the settlement? Did the bandits do it?"
The man with his hoarse voice responded while still closing his eyes.
"According to our spies, it seems that it was a rescue mission, led by the queens betrothed"
"That young girl… is too soft, she cares too much for her people, and that will be the downfall of their kingdom someday if she keeps this up, but what about her betrothed, I thought he went to Fracian because of the engagement proposal? Is he from another powerful country?"
"About that your highness… " The young prime minister fixed his glasses.
"What?"
"It seemed that her betrothed wasn't of noble birth but a simple commoner, however, he excelled on making weird weapons..."
This time the emperor slowly opened his eyes, which revealed to be silver-gray.
"Hoho… and what kind of weapons is that?" he strokes his beard as an expression of interest to the unknown person who pulled strings in the operation that was carried out in his heavily fortified empire as well as to what kind of weapons he is making.
The emperor of Kydus was a conqueror, but when his empire reached his ideal he stopped conquering nations and decided to strengthen his current territory.
His empire's main strength is in its military, the resources were mostly supplemented by the nations they occupy, most of the empire's men became soldiers because the premise of being able to eat three times a day.
The people were mostly poor except for the nobles and the knights of higher position, for a big nation corruption was at large. However the emperor did not care about this, as long as his army is ahead of any nation, this is why when he heard that a certain individual has knowledge of weird weapons, it piqued his interest, it was on military-related affairs that the emperor is immersed on.
"First, the first one was a weapon that could summon fire at an instant without any magic, next was a weapon that could summon a large cloud of suffocating smoke without any magic"
"Are you sure that there wasn't any magic involved?"
"Yes your highness, the witness is a person who had the ability Clear Eyes which makes him able to detect magic in an object. But the person himself said that there wasn't any magic involved at all"
"Smoke and fire huh… not much of a threat, but to think he could make something like that without using magic, it's terrifying of what weapons he could make in the years to come"
The subjects lining side by side was surprised of the words that came from the emperor's mouth, it's been so long for them to hear the word "terrifying" from the man who conquered nations after nations.
The old man stood up and raised his staff.
"We will maintain friendly ties with the Kingdom of Ethareri, next time an incident happens like that, I order all of you to help them at all cost"
At this moment the first-born prince of the kingdom came from the side and knelt down before the emperor.
"Your highness please wait a moment!"
The young man had the silver hair he inherited from her father and was also wearing golden armor, his name is Glanus Popannus.
"What is it Glanus?" the emperor looked down at the prince.
"Instead of maintaining friendly ties why don't we just attack that nation so it would become a part of ours? That would be easier right? Please consider your highness, for the glory of our empire"
The old man went silent for a while, and then he sat on the throne again.
"I was planning to do that, but not now" the old man responded.
"Why father??!! Isn't this the time to express our might? Right?? Right?"
The prince had bloodshot and crazed eyes that seemed desperate.
"You fool!" the emperor's hoarse voice surrounded the castle. "You intend to invade other nations when our territory still has small skirmishes and uprisings? What the hell happened with your education? Can't you figure out that simple fact?"
However the crazed prince didn't falter at all and gave a sinister laugh to his father.
"HAHAHA, you've gone senile father. Even age defeats the mightiest emperor of the land huh? We have to get them!!! We have to kill them! Kill! Kill! Kill! Every single one of them! Absorb them to our nation and we'll become the mightiest nation NO ONE WOULD EVER DARE CHALLENGE!"
The prince became crazier that he spat saliva every time he talked, just like a rabid dog, the subjects that lined up became scared, and the royal guards readied their spears in caution.
"Forget it father! I will come back another time, and I will take that throne from you! As the first-born prince that is! And I will get every nation in this land! Hahahaah!"
The prince boldly declared as he stood up with his laugh.
"What the hell happened to you Glanus, I know you were better than this… Arrest him!"
The heavily armored royal knights immediately scrambled and surrounded Glanus.
"What… unhand me! I am the one who will inherit the throne!" he kept resisting the arrest, but the guards were stronger than him, in a few seconds they were able to tie his hands on his back.
"Is this what you do to the one who inherits your throne father!!!?" Glanus protested trying to face the throne as he was being taken away with the guards.
"I don't know you anymore Glanus! I don't know why and how did you become such an unpleasant person, for the sin of declaring to usurp the throne, you will stay in prison for a while, be grateful that we are of the same blood, otherwise you would have been dead by now" the emperor's mighty voice echoed throughout the castle.
The emperor looked at the caster lined up together with his subjects. He was the same age as him, he wore a pointed black hat that hid most of his orange hair.
"Ipzahr, what the hell happened to my son?"
However the wizard that he called didn't respond to his call, he was only looking at his son who was being taken away, shaking in fear.
"W-what the hell happened, Ipzahr talk!"
"Y-y-your majesty, I can sense it… the prince… has black magic around him-no, it's much stronger than that" he shook his head and pointed at the direction of where the guards and the prince disappeared to, and continued.
"The presence around the prince was just like a dark elf's! Yes Your Majesty! The dark elves that the holy scriptures of Adrar have described!"
The throne room was filled with silence, everyone in the throne room was shocked, much more was the emperor. His eyes weren't as lax as before, it was filled with a combination of horror and rage.
And at that moment, they heard screams coming from the direction where the guards and the prince disappeared to.