"Hm," the King smiled. "Well, I guess I have myself to blame for that. Always made sure my Tethereds confined you to the castle." With these last sentences, the King had slowed down so the prince could take his side.
"Don't take all the credit, there was a reason for that you know?" Wukong said with a small chuckle that the King reciprocated.
"That as well was my fault, I gave you my genes remember?" The King had said with a laugh, which this time Wukong had reciprocated.
When the laugh had finally died down, the King had turned to his left to face Wukong. Then he asked a question with a benign look in his eyes, "Now tell me, how was your stay at Angelos City?"
Wukong hesitated for a moment, before speaking.
"Well, I'd say it wasn't uneventful. There was always something to do there, it was always loud and people seemingly always had one party or the other. Honestly I'm just glad to be back." Wukong had said, playing off of the prince's memories and trying to act as much like him as possible.
While waiting for the King's response, Wukong couldn't help but be momentarily distracted by the strange sounds of struggle growing in the distance.
"I see, that's to be expected." The King lowered his head as he spoke. "Other than that, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"
Wukong for a moment had wondered what the King was asking, then instantly remembered what the King had told the prince right before he departed for the West.
'Keep an eye open. Learn if these people's malice is so strong you can feel it in the air.' Remembering these words, Wukong likewise fell his gaze. As he was about to think on his next line of words, the sounds of struggle kept on growing, and to add to that, he could hear thuds and crackle, which made him tense up. He knew for a fact these sounds did not go unheard be the King, but the fact that he did not react to it, prompted Wukong to not either.
Gathering his thoughts, Wukong took a quick breath, and then spoke.
"No, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Whatever malice the leaders of the West had toward us, I couldn't feel it in their people, not in the slightest. They were, very nice even." Wukong said based on the prince's experience.
"I see." The King had said. For a second or two, nothing more was said when they reeled up to a path on their left that cut into the long hallway. The King at once took a left, so Wukong once again followed.
Once they had turned the corner, an immense flash of light had burst into Wukong. Before his very eyes, he saw fire stop just a few feet to his right. When he understood what was going on, he realized that there was a Barrier protecting him from the blast of fire.
When the flames had quelled and dispersed, Wukong could see beyond the Barrier. And beyond the Barrier, was a large hall filled with Tethereds who were each sparring in fearsome duels.
Wukong stared for a split second, before wondering to himself why the prince's memories did not tell him of this part of the castle. He thought for a moment that this had been built into place when the prince was away. But further thinking on it had caused him to remember that this was here ever since the prince was a child.
So the only other explanation for this oversight, must be that his memories only came to him when necessary. But this was just speculation, he would need to confirm this later.
"Then for the mean time, I'll just have to focus my attention on the North and East, since the West doesn't seem to be a problem to me at the moment." The King said, pulling Wukong out of his head.
"Perhaps you should get a second opinion from Qui Lin before making that decision." Wukong had said, not wanting to hinge the security of this Kingdom on the words of a person who didn't belong here.
Then again, this world was a fake, so it didn't really matter. But still.
"No, no. Qui Lin would just tell me how she felt the malice from the bureaucrats and the Lords and Ladies of that Kingdom. I know that much, I know how spiteful those set of people are toward Qugan," the King said, pulling Wukong's attention on what he wanted to say next. "But the fact that this anger, could not be felt within the people and the streets of the West, was indication enough, for me not to worry about anything too major. The greatest ordeal I could worry about was a spy here or there, but other than that, this Kingdom has nothing to worry about from the West." The King concluded.
Wukong found that what the King said had made sense. Usually, the mood of a country drastically changed when something major was about to happen, like a war or something to that extent. The mere fact that everyone was happy and blissful meant there was nothing to worry about. Or perhaps the people were just kept in the dark, blissfully ignorant. But this really didn't matter to Wukong.
Raising his sights off the ground, he found a magnificent door awaiting him at the end of this hallway with two Tethereds standing guard. Making their way to the door, the Tethereds had pushed the door open, so an enormous creak resonated into the hallway and reverberated into the air.
When the doors had slid open, Wukong felt a sudden fear grip his heart when he saw an enormous green dragon sleeping on the other side of the threshold. And what was worse, was that Wukong felt a strange omnipotent presence emanating off the dragon. It felt incredibly powerful, which made Wukong become tense.
Something within him was screaming, and instantly, Wukong knew this dragon would be a threat to him. Following the sound of the creak, the dragon had awoken, and then rose its neck and met them with its blood red eyes.