It didn't take much time for new's of 'Minos's' elimination to spread, quite a few spies having witnessed it first hand.
With such a trustworthy origin, no one doubted it, not to mention most people still didn't really care about Minos, hence his elimination was of little interest to them either way.
Of course, there were others who were extremely interested in such news, mostly being the Eighth and Ninth Prince's faction.
…
"Is it true? Was Minos actually eliminated?" The Ninth asked with sorrow and confusion, having never expected such a thing to happen.
"Unfortunately it's true… It seems he wanted to reach a deal with our fourth brother, unfortunately it didn't go exactly as planned…" The Eighth said with a long sigh.
"So he was eliminated trying to help us? Dammit! We should have warned him about the fourth brother more. He underestimated his unusual character." The Ninth said with anger, slamming his fist on the disk.
"Now isn't the time for anger. With Minos gone, we have to enlist a new leader…" The Eighth said, not too confident to take the role himself.
"If no one minds, I'll be the new leader." Princess Asumi suddenly said, catching everyone off guard.
"You?" Getu exclaimed, though it wasn't out of derision, just surprise.
"The truth is, Minos left his guards to me before he left, and according to the rule of Acquiescence, they've now become my men."
"Rule of Acquiescence? How come I've never heard such a thing?" Zasro asked.
"It's a real rule, just rarely used, but since Minos decided to trust you with his men before he left, he must have clearly seen something special in you." The Ninth said, rubbing his chin for a moment before continuing.
"Since Minos trusted you, I'll do the same. Of course our leader should have majority support, so I hope we can be united on this." He finished.
"I disagree… Sixteenth sister is still too young, and while Minos may have trusted her, it was likely just because he knew her the most, not necessarily because of her own abilities." The Eighth said, taking the opposite stance of his brother.
Almost immediately, the room seemed to split into two, the Eighth Prince and Zasro on one side, the Ninth Prince and Taiki on the other.
Meanwhile Getu was standing in the middle with apprehension, his eyes snapping between the two sides, not sure which to join.
"It seems to be an equal split… Getu, it looks like you're the tie breaker, so, what do you think?" The Ninth Prince asked, the pressure on Getu suddenly multiplying a hundred times.
"I-I-I'm not sure… Uhhh, Eighth. No, Ninth! No… I don't know!" Getu exclaimed, his hands slightly shaky.
"Let's not rush him, it's not an easy choice to make." The Eighth Prince added.
"Very well then. Getu, you have the next hour to make your decision. Think it through thoroughly." The Ninth said.
"Yes!" Getu replied with relief.
"To make it more fair, go think in the other room, that way none of us can influence your choice."
"Okay." Getu said, thankful to finally get a moment away from the pressure.
Seeing him bolt off, Asumi also got up, but before she could even move an inch, the Eighth shouted out behind her.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Relax, can't I use the bathroom?"
"... Theron, follow her."
"As commanded." The man named Theron replied immediately.
Seeing this, Asumi could only rub her forehead with some frustration, but she didn't say anything, just walking towards the bathroom with Theron following behind her closely.
"May I use it alone, or are you going to follow me inside as well?" She asked somewhat sarcastically as she reached the door.
"Of course not, Princess. Go ahead." Theron said, standing guard by the door, though it was obvious he was here to spy on her.
With a long sigh, Asumi entered inside, not forgetting to lock the door firmly before taking a seat.
Taking some toilet paper, she placed it on the sink before pulling a pen from her shoe and writing something down on it.
Finished writing, she folded it tightly a few times before popping it out of the window, Anda noticing it as he was fulfilling his surveillance duty.
Grabbing the toilet paper that was fluttering down from the window, Anda unwrapped it and read it quickly, before stomping it under foot, submerging it in the dirt.
They had previously come up with this way of communication just in case, but who knew it would come in handy so soon, bearing such critical information no less.
According to what Princess Asumi wrote, Minos had been eliminated, a fact confirmed by dozens of sources.
Even so, Anda couldn't help but feel a knot in his throat, his instinct telling him that such a thing was impossible.
Before becoming a Forbidden Soldier, he was an intelligence man, his main job being to scout out and determine the threats that existed within the bordering tribes and kingdoms.
Such work had honed in him an incredible ability to determine someone's character from only a few interactions, having turned into instinct at this point.
As for the character he felt from Minos, it was indescribable, as if the man was both incredibly basic, yet also an enigma.
He was hard to explain, contradictory in nature, having both infinite depth, yet also only being skin-deep.
In simple terms, he didn't understand him, and it was this perplexing nature that made him so uncomfortable around him.
He wanted to warn Princess Asumi some more, but his past attempts had proven futile, not to mention she must be over the moon at the moment, having never expected her tide to change so rapidly.
Any further discussion on the topic would just irritate her, so deciding to put it to the back of his mind, he just headed off to do as the note told him to.
Walking towards the room Getu was in, he quickly broke the windows lock before jumping in, Getu barely having time to turn around before Anda had put him in an armlock.
Shouting out in a muffled voice, Getu tried to get help, but Anda's large arm had blocked his mouth completely, sealing his words.
Compared to the short Getu, who was only around 180cm, Anda was significantly taller and stronger, so with both their cultivations sealed, he dealt with him with ease.
"Relax boy, I'm not here to eliminate you, in fact quite the opposite. You may not recognize my face, but I work with Princess Asumi. I assume you're smart enough to understand the rest."
Nodding rapidly a few times, Getu continued to speak in a muffle, seemingly saying that he was willing to work with them.
"Good, in that case I'll let you go, but I hope you don't betray my expectations, otherwise I promise I'll sacrifice everything to eliminate you, and I mean everything…" Anda said, finally letting the young man go.
With a few rapid gasps, he looked back at Anda with a mix of fear and anger, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
Smiling with satisfaction, Anda popped back out of the window, continuing with his surveillance work as if nothing had happened.
…
"So Getu, have you made up your mind?" The Ninth Prince asked as Getu finally left the room after a half hour.
"Uhh, yes. I choose to support Princess Asumi!" Getu said after a moment's pause, noticing Princess Asumi staring him down the entire time.
There was no doubt part of his reason was because of the previous threat, though another big part was the princess herself.
At the end of the day, she had a bonafide Sky-Grade Physique, so even if she failed to become the next king, her power within the kingdom would still be palpable.
Compared to the Eighth Prince, who didn't even have a physique, the choice was obvious between who was better to offend.
"Good decision! Then with the majority vote, sixteenth sister will become our new leader." The Ninth Prince said with a big smile.
"While I still disagree, I won't go against the majority. I hope you can lead us well, sister."
"No worries, Eighth Brother, you can rest assured that I will lead with competence and poise." Asumi said confidently.
"Then, as our new leader, what shall we do now?" The Eighth asked immediately, in small part to test this sister of his.
"First we need to talk about his previous plan. While it was good on the surface, the truth was, it was riddled with holes."
"Holes? But if that was the case, why did it work so well?" The Ninth Prince asked.
"It worked well exactly because of the holes… Right now we have to eliminate those we previously enlisted, otherwise we'll be eaten from the inside out!"
"We can't do that, we'd offend every force! They may even choose to come down on us all and once, which we would never survive!" The Eighth Prince responded in appall.