Tristan felt an excruciating pain. The pain was more than the pain when he was stabbed with a knife, and his head hit a rock.
He could see the lake water turning red.
Instantly, his body went limp, and he had no energy to kick the bastard crocodile anymore.
Tristan didn't dare look down to see if the crocodile had eaten his leg yet.
He only focused on the pain, which seemed like all of his skin was being tugged, causing him to feel pain every time he tried to move or touch the iron cage that trapped him.
Now, the position of the iron cage was balanced again. He lay on top with his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
Sweat poured down his face, and his heart beat erratically.
He no longer cared about the crocodiles, who were still attempting to destroy the iron cage with the sole purpose of devouring him alive.
He recognized it was a dream but couldn't come out unless someone woke him.
Tristan had no idea why he had fallen asleep. The last thing he remembered was a physician treating his head, and he took medicine before entering the horse-drawn carriage.
Oh. Tristan's eyes widened. He was sure the medicine from the physician made him fall asleep when he sat in the horse-drawn carriage.
Tristan frowned as he heard a thunderous laughter that caused his eardrums to ache.
"You will never escape the penalty." The voice was heavy and creepy.
Tristan felt short of breath, as if the voice's owner was strangling him, and his body felt pressed by a wall that was attempting to stick together as if he were about to be broken apart.
The owner of the voice must be a God. Either it was the God who made him live in Tristan Madigan's body and get the tyrant system, or the God of Judgment who gave him the skill to scare the opponent.
"Your Majesty. We have arrived at the palace." Knight Aiden knocked on the horse-drawn carriage door. He turned to Knight Ajax, who was also worried about their king.
The two knights heard their king's screams. They were sure that their king was having another nightmare.
Knight Aiden hoped his lord would hear the knock on the door and his voice. He couldn't pull the horse-drawn carriage door open to wake his monarch because they were in the royal yard, and he had no idea what posture he was sleeping in.
Five minutes later, Tristan opened the horse-drawn carriage door, and his eyes immediately looked at his two knights, who showed concern for him.
"Thank you very much for waking me up." Tristan got off the carriage with a staggering body and almost fell to the ground if his two knights hadn't caught him quickly. "Thank you very much."
Tristan still couldn't forget his dream. He looked at his feet. He was immensely relieved that his feet didn't disappear like in the dream.
Tristan looked at the sky, which was still dark. Morning would come soon.
He was still sleepy. Nightmares kept him from sleeping soundly, but he wouldn't sleep because the nightmare penalty wasn't over yet.
"I will sleep after the meeting with the royal officials and generals," Tristan said to Knight Aiden.
"You must meet with Lord Carlos first, Your Majesty." Knight Aiden reminded his king that he already had an appointment with his father.
Tristan nodded. "Okay. I will sleep after meeting with my father."
No, no. Tristan would go back to his original plan. He would sleep after receiving the notification that he had completed the penalty and wondered if he would get a reward.
***
Tristan entered the room with 12 chairs, escorted by his two knights.
The prime minister sat next to Tristan. The two knights stood behind their king.
The Minister of Defense and four generals sat in a row on Tristan's right side.
Meanwhile, across from them sat the Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Trade, and Minister of Health.
They had no idea why their king had invited them to meet this morning after breakfast, but they were confident that he had something serious and crucial to discuss with them.
The only ones who knew about Tristan permitting King Dazen to use one of his kingdom's hills were his two knights, who kept the secret very well.
Tristan felt nervous. He had often held meetings with the ministers and generals. He more or less understood their characters.
What was clear was that Tristan was very confident that the prime minister would immediately agree to his decision.
Tristan was straightforward. He informed the eleven people about King Dazen's request, offer, and agreement. He did not forget to deliver proof of King Dazen's pact letter from the Halu Kingdom to him and the Madigan kingdom.
Tristan observed the faces of the eleven people. At first, they were shocked. A few seconds later, their facial expressions changed after they were sure he was not joking.
"Why did you decide this very crucial thing alone, Your Majesty? The five hills are valuable assets belonging to our Kingdom. It would be hazardous if other kingdoms learned about the five hills, and that's not the only thing we have to worry about." General Yohan looked at Tristan and every one seriously.
"If the Pireakan Kingdom finds out that we helped the Halu Kingdom's soldiers hide, they will attack our country!" General Yohan's clenched fist slammed on the table.
"General Yohan is absolutely right, Your Majesty. Why did you decide something that endangered our country on your own? Did the King of Dazen threaten you?" the Minister of Defense asked, looking at Tristan questioningly.
"How did the King of Dazen know about our five hills?" the Minister of Trade frowned.
The Minister of Trade's question instantly caused the room to become abuzz. They wondered who had leaked the secret. Who had betrayed their kingdom?
Tristan lent one of the hills to King Dazen because of the system's task. He didn't want to get a penalty.
However, Tristan couldn't tell them because they wouldn't believe him. So for four hours, Tristan racked his brains to find a reasonable excuse that the eleven people could accept.
Tristan also hated being considered a child who was not ready to be a king. Although he really wanted to stop playing his role as Tristan Madigan. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to get out of Tristan Madigan's body.
"I lent one of our hills to King Dazen not because I wanted to help him." Tristan took over the attention, all eyes on him now.
"When the Halu Kingdom and the Pireakan Kingdom go to war, the road to the north will be closed. Merchants can take another route, although they will still suffer losses.
"Right now, I am waiting for the arrival of medicine and herbs for my people suffering from the plague of purulent lump and red eyes. I don't know if the sacred ritual will cure them, but we still need the medicine to arrive on time. The medicine is estimated to arrive in the kingdom in 11 days.
"I asked King Dazen to finish the war within a week, and he agreed. Let's just pray that they win the war. Besides, they have promised to give us 10 per cent of the proceeds from the gold sales from Mount Silonga."
Tristan spoke firmly and directly. He deliberately did not give the eleven men a chance to interrupt him.
"For the past few years, since we gave up claiming Mount Silonga, we have never been at war with any kingdom. If the Pireakan Kingdom finds out, mobilize all our troops to fight their troops," Tristan said casually.
Before this meeting, he had already spoken to the Minister of Finance about whether the kingdom had a budget for war, and the finance minister nodded with a confused face.
Tristan looked at the Minister of Defense and the four generals. "I know the generals and all the soldiers miss fighting on the battlefield, right? Show the world that the Madigan Kingdom still has strong, resilient soldiers."
The five men fell silent. They were thinking about their king's words.
"Don't worry too much about bad things that might not happen." The prime minister waved his hand. "We're not God. But, yeah, we have to anticipate in case the things we fear happen."
As Tristan had expected, the prime minister agreed with his decision.
"It wouldn't be bad if the Halu Kingdom could win the war and Mount Silonga falls into their hands," the Minister Of Finance said. "Our kingdom's income would increase by 10 percent. We have been relying too much on taxes all this time."
"If the Halu Kingdom loses and the Pireakan Kingdom finds out about that, you must revoke the Halu Kingdom's status as part of the Madigan Kingdom after you behead King Dazen, Your Majesty," the Minister of Defense said firmly. "The Halu Kingdom is no longer of any use to us."
Tristan nodded, agreeing with the defence minister's opinion. He was relieved that the eleven people had no problem with his unilateral decision.
[Penalty has over.]
[You have successfully survived the nightmare for three days without losing your sanity.]
[Congratulations on getting a penalty reward.]
[Will you accept it?]