Chapter 208: The Genesis of War
The Radagan messenger swallowed desperately when he saw the Sovereign’s anger rising to the surface, and he gathered his courage and quickly stammered out his earlier statement once again.
"T-The Phantoms. I w-went to their campsite like you instructed me, b-but... I wasn’t able to see any signs of life. They had all been slaughtered and their bodies were piled together like cattle."
The murmuring from the nobles around the throne began once more. They leaned into each other conspiratorially, and their voices weren’t that difficult to hear.
"The Phantoms are dead? Do you think it was Riyala?"
"No, that girl isn’t strong enough to do something like that."
"Isn’t Riyala just a healer? There’s no way she could kill those assassins."
"Then, do you think there was someone helping her? Some sort of benefactor?"
"I think it is divine retribution. The Dragon gods are angry with us."
"She is still the Princess. It’s possible that the Dragon Gods are protecting her. They might come for the rest of us soon."
"SILENCE!"
The sovereign slammed his hand into the armrest of his throne while glaring at all the nobles in the throne room heatedly! There was an intense fire burning in his gaze at that moment, and it immediately eradicated every trace of defiance in the body of anyone who looked at him! All the nobles bowed their heads meekly and made sure they didn’t even dare to meet his eyes!
The Sovereign could feel a surge of anger rising from within him! He couldn’t believe how easy it was to make these people lose their faith in him! This was exactly why he wanted to get the princess before things got out of hand! Any member of the Royal family that was not in his custody was already a threat to his throne, so the fact that the princess was out there meant that there would always be doubt in the minds of the people about whether or not he really deserved this throne!
’I need to find her and erase all the doubts! That girl cannot make a fool out of me!’
This thought passed through the Sovereign’s mind and he squeezed his hand into a fist! He was already very angry because of what happened with Riyala’s mother! The Sovereign had planned to take Riyala’s mother as his concubine, but on the day that he was meant to lie with her, she had bit off her own tongue and killed herself! It was a stain on his honor, and he made sure to bury her in a dishonorable way to make sure the people knew how angry he was!
But if the Sovereign allowed the daughter to embarrass him the same way the mother had embarrassed him, then his cabinet would never let him hear the end of it! He had to get Riyala no matter what! A dangerous aura began to surround the Sovereign’s body as he grit his teeth, and all the people in the throne room felt a sudden pressure pushing down on them with intensity! The Sovereign possessed enough power to be classified as an SSS Rank threat and all of the military heads working under him were somewhere between low S Rank to high SS Rank.
His military consisted of more than five thousand Dragon Riders as well as their Dragons, and there were hundreds of thousands of able-bodied fighters in the Radagan Kingdom that he could summon to fight for him whenever he wanted! The Sovereign had already gotten a message from the Phantoms earlier telling him exactly where Riyala was. She was in a parallel Dimension known as Earth that was only a Rank II world. This meant that they had only been introduced to mana a few years ago and their strongest fighter was barely stronger than SS Rank.
’I should send a message to them. We can show them the power of Radagan while also proving myself to the nobles. They would be fools if they continued protecting the princess after seeing the difference in our power.’
The Sovereign narrowed his eyes as this thought crossed his mind and he sat straighter in his chair as he spoke in a powerful voice that traveled across the entire throne room.
"It is unfortunate that the Phantoms were not as capable as they claimed to have been. I have decided that we do not need the help of outsiders to handle problems that are native to Radagan. The Princess is a fugitive from our war; therefore, it is only right that our soldiers are sent to retrieve her from the world where she has chosen as her place of refuge. Grinot!"
The Sovereign suddenly called out towards the throne room door and the large door opened to reveal a tough-looking soldier. The soldier was built with sturdy, bulky muscles and he had a sharp gaze that showed he had seen the horrors of war and had laughed in the face of death itself! He wore the standard red uniform worn by all members of the Radagan Military and there were three stars on his chest that depicted him as a Regiment Commander.
"Sir!"
Grinot saluted sharply and then relaxed his posture when the sovereign nodded to him. The Sovereign looked at all the nobles with a rough smile as he saw them looking away from Grinot. The sight of the military officer was enough to put fear into the hearts of most of the nobles because of how many of them had been killed by the same military in the coup. Some of the nobles had stood against the Sovereign in the coup, and the Sovereign made sure every member of the opposition was hunted down and dealt with properly! Just the uniform alone put fear into the heart of most of the Dragonborn!
The Sovereign leaned back in his seat and spoke with authority.
"Gather your regiment and prepare them for battle. You shall march into Earth and demand they return the fugitive to us at once. You do not need to worry about diplomacy or negotiations. If the people of this ’Earth’ possess any form of intelligence, then they will know better than to stand against our might. If you find that they do not have the intelligence necessary to immediately meet our demands, then you are permitted to use force to achieve your objectives."
Grinot saluted the Sovereign once more before he turned and left without a single word. The military was not trained to give promises or fancy words to their leader. They were trained to take orders and execute them with impossible efficiency. And now that Grinot had his orders, he would stop at nothing to ensure his Sovereign’s wishes were fulfilled!
...
[Earth]
[Jason’s New Apartment]
A large shadow traveled across the floor of Jason’s apartment and stopped in the middle of his living room before two figures emerged from inside. Jason had a serious look on his face as he began taking off his long coat and he spoke to Riyala without turning around.
"You should clean up and get some rest. I won’t be going for another raid, so I won’t need your help for now."
Riyala was standing with her hands held in front of her and a huge smile on her face as she followed after Jason, but the moment he spoke, she lost her smile a little at the thought of leaving him. Riyala had really enjoyed the time that they spent together and she didn’t want the night to end yet. Riyala seemed to hesitate for a few seconds as she stood in place and Jason turned around while running a hand through his hair tiredly and gave her a curious look.
"Is everything okay?"
Jason asked this calmly and Riyala quickly shook her head to tell Jason that everything was fine!
"Sorry, I was just thinking! I was thinking! I’ll go get some rest! Uhm... i-If you’re hungry, then I can make something for us. I can find some meat and cook it or..."