"A-A Monster?" Muttered Alisha.
"A monster? Here in the middle of the capital, that's impossible, are you sure everything is alright with-"
Before her friend could finish, Alisha rushed off without waiting for her to complete her sentence.
'I must urgently inform Mother!' thought Alisha, sprinting as fast as she could, rapidly increasing the distance between her and the cart with each passing second.
"Hey! Wait for us!" shouted Alisha's friends as they chased after her.
Meanwhile, the young man in the cart watched them run.
'Should I deal with them?' he wondered.
'No, I just arrived in this empire. I shouldn't cause a fuss; the boss already warned me. I'll focus on my mission and leave the moment I finish,' decided the young man.
Minutes later, the cart stopped, and someone knocked on the door.
"We are here".
When the young man stepped down from the cart, a light suddenly pierced his eyes, blinding him.
He frowned and got on his guard, but feeling no killing intent or danger, he relaxed a bit.
"Dony raise your head; you are blinding the guest with your bald head," said Triskan with a chuckle.
The young man felt a low grumble before the light piercing his eyes suddenly disappeared. It wasn't until then that he could see what, or rather who, was in front of him.
"Welcome to the Fiore Imperial Palace. I'm Knight Donald, and I will be the one to take you to the emperor," said a man.
The man who had just spoken looked like a middle-aged man with a bulky stature. He had black eyes and a long beard, yet his most striking feature was his bald head, which kept shining as the sun rays reflected on it.
"Whoa, I have never seen someone as bald as you; your head even shines!" commented the young man with an astonished expression.
"Pfft..."
Despite the guest's comment and Triskan's muffled laughter, Donald maintained his calm expression.
"Thanks for the compliment-"
"It wasn't one; the glow of your head is quite annoying."
"Pfft..."
This time not just Triskan; even the soldiers around them couldn't seem to control themselves.
"As I said, I will guide you to the emperor," said Donald, trying to ignore the laughter directed at him.
"Okay, then lead the way."
"Let's go-"
"Wait, I thought I was the one tasked to guide the guest to-"
"There's a change of plan; your mission has been changed," said Donald.
Triskan frowned.
"Why has my-"
"Your new mission involves the first princess."
"Oh, what is it then? I will carry it out successfully!" said Triskan with a determined face.
'Say that you are rather eager to meet the princess,' thought Donald with a shake of his head.
"Go see Gant; he will give you the details," informed Donald.
Without uttering another word, Triskan took off with a wide smile on his face.
'Hopeless fool,' thought Gant as he observed Triskan practically running.
"Right here," said Donald, guiding the young man towards the throne room. A minute later, both of them stood in front of the door of the throne room.
The moment the guards saw Donald in company with the young man, they opened the door to let them pass; Donald didn't even need to explain why he was here.
"I have brought the-"
"You can retire," said the emperor, interrupting Donald.
Donald bowed his head and left the throne room.
Meanwhile, the young man was marveling at the opulence of the throne room.
'They sure live well; I wish I could have such fortune,' thought the young man.
'No, it's not the time for that; focus,' the young man reminded himself.
He approached the throne and kneeled; a second later, he stood up.
"How dare you stand before the emperor has given his permission!" shouted angrily the guard at the right of the emperor.
The young man frowned.
"How dare I stand without the permission of the emperor? Do you think I need your emperor's permission to stand?" asked the young man with disdain.
"How dar-"
"Let's make something clear right this instant," the young man interrupted. "I only kneeled in the first place out of courtesy for the emperor, not because I needed to. I have no obligation to kneel in front of your emperor. In fact, the only reason why I'm here is that your emperor asked for the help of my organization. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be here because your whole empire isn't worth anything in my eyes."
"You impertinent-"
"That's enough!" said the emperor, cutting off his guards who were ready to pounce on the young man.
"I apologize for my guards' rudeness," said the emperor with a smile as he looked at the young man.
"My liege, you shouldn't-"
'Shut the f*ck up. Do you have any idea of the strength of this kid's organization? Our whole empire could be razed to the ground if they so desire. So, the next time you say something that might offend this young man, I will be the one to cut your head off,' telepathically sent the emperor to his two guards.
The instant they heard the emperor's words, the guards felt a shiver run down their spines.
'From what kind of organization is this kid?' they wondered.
Meanwhile, the emperor, still portraying a smile, continued:
"I am grateful for your organization's help-"
"Can you please tell me what I need to do?" said the young man, cutting off the emperor.
The emperor's eyes flashed with anger when the young man cut him off. Usually, cutting him off was punished by death, but right now, he couldn't do anything to the young man in front of him. However, it was not because of that that he would let himself be disrespected and say nothing, he had say to his guards to not offend the young man, but it's not for that that he would let himself be trampled on.
"Kid, your organization is indeed much stronger than my empire, and it's true that I was the one to have asked for your help. But it's not because of that that I would let myself be disrespected in my own palace. Mind your manners," warned the emperor with a cold gaze.
The young man didn't say anything and just nodded his head, acknowledging the fact that he was indeed rude towards the emperor.
"Let's get straight to the point," said the emperor. "A few days ago, a strange phenomenon occurred in my empire. Due to that, the noble families composing our empire started causing troubles at the borders with the empires and kingdoms surrounding us. It seems that war is looming, and our empire needs to have its army ready, with all the noble families focused on the matter."
"I understand, but where do I come in all of this?" asked the young man.
"One of the duke families of our empire is going to elect the heir of their family in a few weeks. What I want from you is to go there and ensure that the current patriarch's son is the one elected as the heir."
"Is that all?"
"No, one of our fortresses in the north of the empire was captured by the Gast kingdom. I want you to go there and reconquer the fortress. The knight who has escorted you here will give you the details about the fortress and how the duke family intends to elect their heir."
"Then I will take my leave," said the young man.
After he left, the guard to the right of the emperor said:
"My liege, can we really count on this kid for the matter of the Eswald family? He is only at level 5."
"Don't worry. He may just be at level 5, but his power is well above that of a normal level 5. Plus, the ones participating in the Eswald family competition are just normal kids at level 4. Nothing or no one should be able to stop him from succeeding in his mission."