章 48: Barrier
Arius soon joined them and the family of four talked into the night. The two would leave the next day as Atia wanted to see how Amadeus had adjusted to the role of Emperor.
The next day went like any other and the Royal Court gathered once more. Amadeus was the last to arrive and had sat down when he saw Atia just sat there next to his throne. She had his eyes closed but her stern face gave everyone in the room pressure like no other.
Amadeus gave Eras a nod and the Royal court commenced. There was only one issue they were talking about, Goblins.
It seemed that the officials went back and put their minds together to find ways to counter the problem.
"We can move the army…"
"No, too many resources used…"
"Gather adventurers?"
"No, they won't come for something so small…"
"But with the royal order…"
One by one, suggestions were brought out and one by one they were immediately rejected. Amadeus looked at Eras who cleared his throat causing the ruckus to quiet down. Seeing that everyone's attention was on him, Amadeus brought out a question,
"What do you know about Goblins?"
A thoughtful look appeared on the official's faces as a general stepped out,
"They hunt in groups..."
"Set up ambushes…"
"Use crude weaponry and armour…"
"Some are born with unique talents…"
With each point brought up Amadeus gave out a question,
"How many are within a group? 5? 10? 15?"
"Where and how do they set up ambushes?"
"What material is the weapon and armour made out of?"
"What type of talents, what is the frequency of them appearing? What…"
Amadeus was starting to get frustrated and the official's heard it laced in his voice. He finally came face to face with incompetence of the government. It was that they overlooked the weaker and minor issues that plagued the common people. If it was a single event, it was indeed no cause of worry, but if they were multiple, it was only when adding up the negativities would one see the whole picture and the disastrous impact it had.
However, he couldn't pursue this as it was within his expectations. It also showed that they didn't do any research of their own, and just thought of some ideas. Slowly, the royal court was ushered into silence as no one knew what to say. They all looked in the direction of Amadeus who just shook his head.
Once again looking at Eras, the latter looked towards another direction and nodded. The officials were confused as to what was happening and waited only to see the doors open and in walk a man. He had slicked back brown hair and wore a pair of rectangular glasses hiding his blue eyes. He carried himself in a neat and strict manner. Not a single crease could be spotted on his three-piece black suit as he came in the middle of the royal court and kneeled.
"Adventurer Guild's Head, Matthew greets His Majesty the Emperor."
"I hope we're not wasting your time."
"That is not the case, your majesty, it is an honour for my humble self to step into the royal court."
Amadeus nodded and continued,
"I presume you have bought what I asked for."
Amadeus looked down at Matthew and waited for him to speak.
"I'm afraid I haven't your majesty…"
Amadeus raised an eyebrow as an official spoke out,
"What is the meaning of this Matthew?!"
Another one,
"You dare disrespect His Majesty!"
Amadeus raised his hand, and everyone was able to catch a glimpse of it despite the veil. The veil didn't completely lock out Amadeus, but rather it barely showed his figure and his two eyes. As he got the officials to quiet down, Amadeus looked at Matthew,
"Continue."
"…Thanks, your majesty. I didn't do it because I doubt the information the guild has would be any lesser than the Empire has. I've come to tell of an individual."
"An individual?"
Amadeus kept his stoic face while he felt things were getting slightly intriguing. The younger officials had confused looks while the older experienced one kept didn't show it, but their eyes spoke volumes of it.
"Yes, an individual. He is a Silver ranked adventurer but probably is no stronger than a bronze one."
This genuinely surprised the court as there were only two reasons in which an adventurer's guild rank would increase. One was strength and the other was accomplishments. Seeing that the strength of the man was lower than his rank meant that his accomplishments were not low.
The ranks in the world went from copper, bronze, silver, gold and mithril. After that were S-class, SS-class and SSS-class. The last rank was Arch, and they had power rivalling Ancestor dragons. To put it into perspective, Copper was for beginner adventurers, Bronze was for experienced weak adventurers, Silver was for mid-ranked adventurers, Gold was for mid ranked accomplished adventurers and Mithril was the highest ranked where they had both strength and a long list of accomplishments. After that was the three legendary classes where the strongest individuals were, these were for people who had all their stats past 1000. The weakest Blade was SS-class. As for Arch, they were very few but stood alongside the Ancient Dragons.
These ranks were for everything, for example, bronze mercenary, silver mage, gold knight, mithril swordsman etc.
These ranks were also there for merchants but instead of strength, it valued all their assets and money they had under the name and how good their business was.
However, in this location a mere silver ranked adventurer was not worth their notice, yet the head of the adventurer's guild spoke of him. Everyone listened carefully as they wanted to know what was so special about the adventurer.
"His name is Jack but goes by the name The Killer of Goblins, and his accomplishments only consist of exterminating goblins."
Matthew stopped to let the words sink in. It was rather exemplary to gather enough achievements to become a silver ranked adventurer while only exterminating goblins. A few officials sucked in a few sharp breaths while Atia also had a raised eyebrow,
"How many has he killed then? And to only focus on Goblins, he must have quite the hate for them."
Tora spoke up, Matthew nodded,
"Indeed, the number we have recorded is 346 but those are only recorded kills, who knows how many he has killed. As for hatred, it is indeed a deep-seated hatred, apparently, his village was attacked and destroyed by goblins."
Matthew finished talking and quietened down. Everyone also did the same as Amadeus became the focus of attention.
"That's fine by me. General Sado Tora."
"Yes, your majesty."
"Heed my decree."
Tora came forward and kneeled,
"You will be in charge of contacting this man and get as much information out of him. From what I see, he would most likely help in exterminating more Goblins. Don't use force."
"Yes, your majesty."
With Matthew being dismissed, Amadeus turned to Henrik.
"Henrik."
"Yes, Your majesty."
"Heed my decree."
Henrik came forward and kneeled,
"Start a recruitment process, we need to increase the size of the army. Don't focus on quantity but on quality, we will use the extermination of the Goblins a good way to train them."
"Yes, your majesty, but…"
"What?"
Henrik took in a deep breath and looked at Amadeus as if wanting to prove his estimation wrong,
"Why the sudden recruitment?"
Amadeus didn't immediately reply but let loose his aura. A regal aura enveloped the room as everyone kneeled and all Amadeus said was one word. A word that the officials would never forget in all their life with the voice that would be etched into their very souls,
"War."
All the officials shook as their eyes widened. Some old officials sighed as their fears had come true. One bold yet young official came forward and voiced out,
"With whom?"
An older official next to him shook even more and quickly slapped the man's head. Amadeus didn't mind and looked at him causing all his aura to be concentrated onto the official.
"You will know soon enough."
With that he got up and left with the officials leaving next. Atia walked next to Amadeus and looked at her grandson with an approving gaze. Amadeus could see that she was satisfied with his performance as the latter let out a smile. This surprised Amadeus because it was the first time he had seen her smile like such. Patting his head, all Atia could say was,
"You've done well."
Amadeus smiled in return as they returned to the family. Atia left for the clan and let the four have as much family time they could get. The day went quick for the four of them as the time to leave approached in a blink of an eye.
Amadeus stood there as he saw his parents stand within a secret room in the temple smiling at them while his mother had a hint of tears in her eyes. Arius was looking at them with tears as well when the circle beneath them flashed and the two disappeared from their sights. He never broke down crying, he just stood there desperately holding it in with his fists clenched.
With the head priestess closing the door and bowing to Amadeus, the latter pat his little brother's shoulder and left. Arius followed behind while wiping his tears, he was still in pyjamas. Looking at the night sky that shone with a plethora of stars, Arius looked at his brother's back that seemed to speak many things. He was regretful that he hadn't spent enough time with his family before their departure.
His brother, despite being Emperor, was able to make some time to spend with his parents while he was off training or playing. Thinking of this, more tears appeared in his eyes before a voice drifted into his ears,
"How long are you going to keep crying?"
"Oni-ta-…Elder Brother."
A smile involuntarily appeared on Amadeus' face as he heard the long-forgotten term his brother used to address him with.
"Calm down, they've just left for the clan, you'll be able to visit in the future."
Arius nodded as he was escorted to his room by his personal maids. Amadeus waved his right hand and Luna jumped into his hand. With a flash it transformed into a set of rings connected by chains. One went on his pinkie finger while another on his index and middle finger. Solaris also flew there and turned into a full finger ring on his middle finger that sharpened at the end like a claw.
On his left hand was a ring with a violet diamond that had the Drakos family emblem on it. Baldrik Drakos had become just Baldrik.
- Far to the west of Drakonis Empire -
Far into the unexplored lands, amongst the vast flatlands, a faint glowing white barrier stood there reaching the heavens and the core of Orbis. Animals would near and unconsciously turn away. A gigantic fortress stood a few miles away, but the large crossbows were clearly facing the barrier. Soldiers stood there from all races and from all kingdoms, guarding it. This day was supposed to be normal, the soldiers there had long gotten bored but knew that they were protecting a fort that was known as the first line of defence for all the nations behind. There was no animosity here as it had long since died down, they were the elite for a reason, they were able to put aside their differences and focus in the big picture.
That day, it wasn't meant to be an ordinary one as the barrier they had been observing showed changes for the first time. The light diminished slightly, and a faint crack appeared right in the middle of the barrier.
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