After capturing the Pallind fortress, the Azure Empire was in an all out war with Gillievia, one of the empire's powerful underling, as expected it was a large scale war, unlike the Fyde Kingdom, Gillievia was strong and stood proudly against any other kingdom, they weren't scared to refuse the offer of the empire, but everyone knew unless the empire interferes, it was going to be the end of Gillievia.
°°°°¬¬
The nine dukes sat down amidst themselves as they discussed the nation's matter.
"lord Wimberley do you think you can afford 700 mechanical titans for the empire, it's a new development, and can't even be compared to mechanical golems. Sending 100 alone will turn the tides of the battlefield at Gillievia."
"lord Bardulf your mouth seems to shutter a lot, do you know how much a 700 mechanical titans will cost me, yet you talk as if you have dashed me the riches I have today"
"what??!!...are you trying to insult the empire right now."
"when did I every try to insult the empire, lord Bardulf I am trying to insult you."
"hmm hmm" The menacingly looking man cleared his throat,
"well there's no reason to insult me, I'm only trying to know if you can."
"i can but i won't, because I'm a merchant not a volunteer"
"I see merchants are really scary, they put their profit first. I can see how you have made it to this point."
"thank you lord Griswold, I put my interest before anything that's how I've survived, I can't throw my whole life away for the empire, it took my entire lifetime to reach this point."
"hey hey lord Wimberley, are you not being too mean right there."
"there's nothing mean about what I said lord Spooner"
"but you just..."
"Silence!"
A thick yet calm voice rang through the table, the gentle and calm face that rested on the hand looked at all of them. The white beards were so pure almost like they were dyed with magic, his white hair fell on his shoulders and his gaze was so sharp it could pierce a rock.
He started to talk again,
"The Empire is at war and all you filthy bastards are thinking about is how to make him donate so much that you all will be excluded, this man will not contribute to this war more than any of us will, anything above this will be a trade for him."
The whole room was silent.
"All nobles are to donate 100 mechanical golems which is 70 million gold alongside every noble and his first child, a male, that is the order of the Emperor, if Lord Wimberley would be doing anything more than this then it will be a trade. Prepare everything, once we receive the signal of the crown prince we'll be going attack 3 kingdoms of the Azure alliance we would need to minimize our loss to as little as possible, because the real war starts when we take out all the kingdoms."
Everyone hmmed and nodded in agreement, they looked at each other, Duke Belmont continued
"with that i believe we have no reason to be seated here, lord Wimberley if you would mind, can I see you privately."
Duke Belmont and Duke Erin remained as everyone left, minutes later they were alone. Then Duke Belmont started,
"I'd be frank Lord Wimberley... We expect much more from you. The emperor expects much more from you."
"I understand Lord Belmont i have decided to give 200 mechanical titans instead of 100 anything apart from this will be a trade as you've mentioned."
"ohh so you want to make a trade...."
Duke Erin stared at Duke Belmont without saying anything....after some moments he opened his mouth.
"I was able to start a business in the central artic, even though I can't oversee so I can't tell how well it is going. But I was able to partner with an Artician beast tamer."
Duke Belmont's eye widened,
"an Artician beast tamer?"
"yes"
The noble house of Filmore were very good at taming beast but when compared to the Articians their skill was a child's play.
The Articians were capable of taming thousands of mythical beast, so far the house of Filmore were popular because their ancestors were able to tame two mythical beast. Duke Belmont could not contain his excitement, he let out a smile and asked,
"then would you like to explain further?"
"wyverns...."
"whaaaaattt??" Duke Belmont grabbed the handle of his chair with his strength, the handle shattered, "wyverns... As in descent of dragons? I remember the myths that, wyerns are dragon who were not able to evolve into ascension, even one alone is powerful enough to rain chaos on a kingdom as strong as Gillievia"
"yes, we've been able to tame seven of them, they are twelve actually but the five remaining are eggs of which I plan to gift one to my son by the time he returns"
"aahhh.. I see, please reserve one for me too I'd like to purchase it whatever price"
"yes lord Belmont"
Duke Belmont rubbed his beard with his hand and looked at Duke Erin,
"so what is your prize.... How much?"
Duke Erin shook his head
"I have no interest in monetary value or whatsoever, I can only exchange five of these wyverns for the northeast territory of the Empire."
"You mean that ruins, it has been abandoned and it is said to be home to unnatural creatures of the dark."
"Demons?"
"you know better than me that we are not suppose to call out the name of those things.... That place you want, is the ruins of the Thousand year war and I fear the Emperor might not allow it, but then even I cannot predict... five wyverns are a lot.... Let me talk about this with the Emperor, I'll get back to you."
Duke Erin stood up and bowed slightly, "Then I'll take my leave."
Duke Belmont looked at the back of Duke Erin as he walked out majestically, "five wyverns... even I am greedy to ride one."
°°°°°¬¬
After spending two weeks in the Culin Empire. The crown prince had gotten familiar with many people, he was different, he concealed his status and would go out to the marketplace to help the people with his fragile body, he would laugh to every old man jokes and listen to their stories, he had no problem relating with commoners, he was extremely different. The Culin Empire did not really see itself differently from the commoners, the empire itself was poor compared to other empire, so even nobles couldn't afford much, and peace reigned as they all didn't care about the status difference.
Fulcan knew how other empires operated, seeing the crown prince of the great Forgan empire like this really put him in awe, he would have thought the gentle looking neat prince would be someone that would tell you to lick is boot because you stepped on him. But he was a complete opposite of what Fulcan had thought, he was truly amazing and worth the position, Fulcan could tell he was weak of course he also knew the crown prince is being protected by something strong.
The crown prince inspected and looked at the murals on the stone in amazement, he could understand very little but it was amazing to see true history, especially when the written ones were always distorted. He was alone of course he's protected was beneath him.
The crown prince was so focused that he didn't know when night fell on him.
"Your highness, I advice that we leave this place right now."
"oh my Dernmir, I forgot about time."
"but I'm sure you were able to find what you're looking for"
"a piece..."
At that moment, "your highness stop!!... I sense a dangerous presence"
A dark purple shadow began to surround the crown prince,
'If Dernmir is coming out, that means the strength is really strong'
The crown prince skin became black, his hair turned purple and began to flutter in the hair, his eyes were purple, it wasn't the crown prince anymore, Dernmir had taken over the prince's body as he had no physical existence.
"Come out whoever you are"
Both the soft voice of the crown prince and the thick voice of the Dernmir rang out.
~clak~
~clak~
The footsteps drew nearer from the dark forest.