In front of this question, Avion made a serious expression as Edora prepared her ears. Do her eyes deceive her? No, even though she is just a Rank Dih, she is still the Royal Knight-Captain which nobody could imagine how hard she trained her ass off just to reach when her competitors are already at Rank Cee.
There was no way she could've just missed Avion's preparation for that slap. The time was too little for Avion to prepare in a split second, or maybe he was just too fast, no, if he was that fast, the follow-through should've been as fast as well. And also, that slap was strong but if Avion swung his arm in just a split second then Edora's cheeks should be bleeding right now...
These thoughts made her head hurt and just gave up. Seeing Avion's serious expression, it seemed like he was about to fess up what kind of abilities he has.
"I..." Avion spoke.
"I..?"
"I can control time..." Avion then bashfully turned his head, "there I said it."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Edora's face was full of shock, "Y-you... you..." she couldn't find the words.
"Yes, I know. For a normal being such as you, I am magnificent. I understand that. People always tell me that." Avion then peeked his eyes at her.
"You already said that joke before!" at that moment, Edora didn't have the will to kill Avion but to strangle his neck multiple times before killing him.
"Woah-Woah, slow down. I can beat you up if I want to." Avion was oblivious in terms of societal rules where men shouldn't hit a woman. No, actually, even if he was aware of that, he would beat this woman multiple times since she once 'killed' him. Everyone would do that. But such a peaceful man as himself didn't do it, it's not like it hurts his palm or something but since he wasn't really dead now.
"Tsk!" Edora clicked her tongue, "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Just be prepared when there is a time I can finally kill you!"
'This...'
Avion's eyes twitched, 'I was already honest, a little bit, but you still want to kill me?' Edora touched Avion's nerve. He already let her go, gave her an "honest" answer but she was still adamant about killing him. Even a peaceful man wouldn't just let this slide off.
"Just remember that the more you get closer to the princess,' Edora then swiftly turned around and was about to walk away, "the more your life will be endan- Pak*."
"-Ah!"
.....
On the southwest of the Haliviana was the Karan Kingdom on top of the plains with large farms and villages surrounding the main city of the Kingdom. There were multiple cities under the Karan Kingdom with vast farms between them. Of course, the king of Karan is living in the main city, on the castle that could've reached the skies.
The economy of the Karan Kingdom is something to be feared and their greatest strength. The progress of each of their city was revolting and each month, new structures would be built, expanding their territories.
Having been placed on top of the plains, Karan Kingdom can build whatever they want, unlike the Hansheles Kingdom that was built on top of mountains and terrains or the Rianzares Kingdom on the coastal area.
However, even though the Karan Kingdom is the fastest progressing kingdom of the three in Haliviana, it doesn't mean that it's the strongest.
In the Hansheles Kingdom, they lived in the deep forest and mountain, encountering beasts on the daily basis. They are strong and barbaric coupled with the taming techniques they had that made beasts and monsters become their servants, they wouldn't lose to the Karan Kingdom.
On the other hand, the Rianzares have their heavy naval arsenals on their side with a rich resource, the ocean, with them. Just their naval forces can conquer a country or two on their own so they definitely wouldn't be defeated by the other two kingdoms.
At this point, it seemed that the Karan Kingdom is actually on the losing side but no, they have the greatest size of manpower. Expanding, building, and progressing, their population increases and so does their military power. Even though each individual is weaker than the citizen from the other two kingdoms, especially from the Hansheles, they are stronger in quantity.
In the end, they are at an equilibrium. Although the Karan Kingdom is expanding their power, the Hansheles is further cultivating their beasts and even to the point of developing monster-breeding techniques while the Rianzares continue to explore the seas and discover unknown land filled with resources or hidden ancient treasures.
So the equilibrium will stay for quite a long time, maybe even for centuries and maybe, these three will finally become one as they exponentially grow and finally, deciding to conquer other countries.
But it seemed like that peaceful equilibrium will be destroyed without a sign or warning...
"Your Majesty, I have brought news from the Trading-Hills Capital." a man covered by a black robe he was wearing spoke respectfully while half-kneeling on the red carpet.
In front of him was an ascending stair and on top of these stairs was the platform on which three throne chairs were erected. However, the smallest throne was empty, leaving only two occupied thrones.
Of course, they were the King and Queen of Karan.
"Speak." upon receiving the overwhelming voice of the king, the man in black robes took off the robe's hoodie, revealing his sunken cheeks and sharp eyes. Just his face could scare the children and one could imagine that he had a set of sharp teeth behind that dry lips.
However, in front of the presence of the King, he was sweating because he had brought bad news, no, the worst news. But he didn't let his king wait for his delay as he reported;
"Your Majesty, this is about your precious daughter, Princess Alisera who just arrived at the Trading-Hills Capital."
"Hm"
The man reporting couldn't help but tremble and take a gulp. His heart began to race. Just the figure of their King was already terrifyingly massive so he didn't dare to look up or else, he would freeze from fear.
"She... Upon arrival, there was a mysterious man-"
"Hngh!"
"Eek!" upon hearing the King's grunt, the man in the black robe couldn't help but shriek, 'I haven't even started yet!' he internally cried.