King Vedor stood in front of his throne, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm that suggested he was angry and indeed, he was angry.
"Six people. All you had to kill was six puny humans!"
"Yet, you messed it up! You ruined everything!" He yelled at the person kneeling a distance away from him.
"Now, you've come to report your failure to me. I appointed you for this because you showed great potential above the others and what have you brought back? Disgrace! Shame! Humiliation!"
"My sincerest apologies, my king. We had sufficient plans for a single Class Six magic user. No one could've suspected the guard was well within that rank also." The man being yelled at, had his forehead touching the floor as he spoke out, trying to quell his master's wrath.
"You have sullied my pride!" King Vedor yelled even louder.
"Come closer…"
Shiing~
The sound of a blade being pulled out from its sheath reverberated through the room as it spelled the end for this kneeling individual. He saw this and stopped a few feet from his king.
"Closer…"
The man moved forward another foot and stopped, afraid his death was upon him.
"Closer!" King Vedor yelled.
"I made it clear that you would be punished if you failed and you accepted your fate. Come closer and receive the punishment due for this failure of yours." The king ordered as the man reluctantly made his way closer.
"The penalty for your failure is death. But I am a magnanimous king so I shall ask… Any last words?" King Vedor spoke when the individual was close enough.
"Yes, my king."
"Then speak!"
"Just this morning, I received very important information from my spy planted in MIN. The news concerns our biggest thorn. Seth Samiel." Calmly picking out words that might catch the interest of his enraged king, the man began his narration.
"Go on…"
Yes, it was a bait that had successfully caught the interest of King Vedor.
"He left the institute today along with his teacher as they're expected to be heading to a training dungeon and would be spending at least two weeks there."
"I planned to go after them myself and put an end to this but when I got the message that you had summoned me, I couldn't disobey as I would've needed your permission to go after them."
"You wanted to personally go after him?" King Vedor asked, his brows slightly raised.
"Yes, my king." The man replied, nodding his head.
"Then it is decided. You're currently punishable by death. The only reason I'll be withholding that is for the sole purpose of eliminating Seth. Even in death, you are to eliminate the kid before he becomes a serious threat to this kingdom."
"Their eldest sister, Rachel, has already broken through to the sixth Class as there's nothing we can do about her. She's become an important figure in the Kingdom."
"To prevent such from repeating itself, you have to take down Seth. If you do fail to take him down this time and for some reason, Keith, you return alive…"
The full pressure of King Vedor, a Class Seven magic swordsman filled the room as the room felt the impact, cracks appearing on the walls. This appearance made him even more domineering as he spoke in a warning tone.
"... I'll kill you myself. I'll tear off your limbs one by one and feed your heart to the dogs trained in the castle."
Fear and terror could be seen on the face of this man named Keith. Even though he was a class Six mage, he could only succumb to the pressure his king was exerting.
While he was still fear-stricken and sweating, his King spoke again. "Do I make myself clear?"
The pressure King Vedor exerted vanished just as quickly as it appeared.
"Yes, My King!" With his head pressed against the floor in submission, Keith yelled.
Inwardly, he was delighted to get a second chance.
"Now, do what you need to." King Vedor gave word for Keith to leave.
♠♠♠♠♠
"I honestly feel like I missed something reaaalllly important." Seth rubbed his hand against the window of the carriage.
"Something like?"
Seth shook his head. "I don't know but it feels important."
"Then it's probably just your body being uncomfortable. It's just tension." Raiden interrupted from his corner or the carriage.
"Nah… I know when I'm tense and this isn't one of those moments. I really missed something important. My intuition is always correct." Seth said, arguing with Raiden's suggestion.
As if admitting defeat, Raiden raised his hands in the air. "That's up to you. It's not like I know what's going on in your head."
"How long would the trip take before we arrive?" Taro asked a question Seth had been meaning to ask.
"Should take two days without stopping. If we do stop though, we'll spend three days on the road." Raiden answered, three fingers raised demonstrating the number of days they'd spend on the road.
"It's that long? So we'll basically be spending four or six days on the road. That means we've got around two weeks for training."
Seth turned, facing his friend. "Change of plans. We'll be training longer than expected. I believe you can keep up, right?"
Without a moment of delay, Taro responded with a nod. "Of course, I can."
"Perfect."
"Could we drive non-stop? We don't have any time to waste." Seth asked Raiden who nodded before speaking out loud for the driver to hear.
"We'll be going without stops. I'll switch turns with you."
"Roger that." The middle-aged man sitting outside the carriage replied as he whipped the horses once more, urging them to go faster.
"We'll be training all day as the only time we'll get to rest is between the twenty-second hour of the day and the sixth hour of the next day."
"Physical training for the first three hours of the day after we wake and after that, we practice mana absorption and control for four hours."
"We'll get to rest and eat after that and then, we'll spar with spells against Raiden. We'll end the day with a hunting session as our catch will serve as dinner."
Seth began laying out their daily schedule even though Raiden was supposed to be in charge.
"Seems fair." Taro nodded in agreement.
"If you're both okay with it, I am. But why are you the one making the schedule and not me?" Raiden asked with raised brows.
"Because I know where we lack the most." Seth said with a smirk.