Chapter 43: CH 41

“What the hell kind of reason is that?!” Now that he was upset, Oswald couldn’t manage to put on a good face.

It was embarrassing to express his affection for himself twice, so Kevin stopped repeating the same damned reason and waved his hand. “Anyway, it means what it says. You have a favourable opinion of the god of light, so I’m sure you can understand. I must go to the Old Rose Fortress.”

Oswald dismissed the idea, “I don’t understand, so don’t dream. I won’t allow you to go. Besides, you have never mentioned Phae more than a few times, so why do you suddenly like him? Are you kidding me?”

The emperor, for his part, felt that Kevin wouldn’t risk his life for Phae alone, and there must be another reason for him to go to the Old Rose Fortress. But what could there possibly be in Old Rose Fortress that would be worth his stubbornness? What other reason could he have for going there than because of Phae?

After analysing the matter rationally, Oswald’s displeasure increased rather than decreased, and his face became even more unpleasant.

And without noticing, Kevin continued, “Who says you like something only if you mention it voluntarily? I’m this-”

He stopped mid-sentence and turned his head towards the straight corridor that led to the inner courtyard. The dark-faced Oswald barely had time to gather his composure before he turned his head with a stern face as if everyone owed him a gold mine.

A figure who had just turned into the straight corridor braked timidly. “Your Majesty, Your Excellency …… Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Kevin nodded at him.

Since Kevin had frightened Cynthia into tears by waving his ghostly claws, Oswald had been forced to give the little girl a grounding order again so that she wouldn’t be afraid and to prevent Kevin from being wounded by the clumsy girl.

However, this order was not too harsh and did not require her to stay in her room all day as she did before. She was only forbidden to go to Kevin’s room without permission. Cynthia was very fond of Kevin and cried for a few days because she had lost one of her great storytellers. After that, she resumed pestering the lovely teenager, Angel.

“What’s that thing you’re holding?” Oswald felt an inexplicable embarrassment at being overheard having such a childish argument between the Emperor and the Commander. He took the opportunity to change the subject when he caught a whiff of a light floral scent.

But he forgot that he was wearing a scowl and opened his mouth to ask a question with a stern look, frightening Angel into a frozen standing pillar.

Like a scared rabbit, the young man explained, clutching the flower branch in his arms, “Her Highness Cynthia asked me yesterday what the Dorothea flower looked like, so I went and picked one for her.”

“We don’t see many Dorothea flowers here,” Kevin said.

Angel nodded, “I wanted to draw a picture for her, but I saw one growing on the cliff behind the barracks, so I took it.”

He still had a bruise with a scar on his arm where he was holding the flowering branch, so he had obviously gone through no small trouble.

“I’m glad you took Cynthia’s words so seriously, but next time you don’t have to take something like this so seriously. Nobody will be able to fish you out of the cliff if you tumble off it,” Oswald said.

Angel: “……”

The emperor’s face had obviously not yet switched to the “happy” mode, which contrasted sharply with the content of his words, and inexplicably had a sense of mockery.

After a few casual questions, Oswald waved his hand and allowed Angel to go and find Cynthia.

Angel, who had overheard the emperor and the commander discussing “likes and dislikes”, was obviously a little embarrassed too and ran away as soon as he was let go.

Once the outsider, as defined by the Emperor, had left, he instantly scowled and said firmly to Kevin: “No way in hell you’re going to the Old Rose Fortress, and if I say no, I mean no.”

With those words, he turned and strode back towards the council chamber.

Kevin raised an eyebrow, inexplicably feeling that His Majesty the Emperor was having a temper tantrum.

“I’ve been pretty soft-tempered lately ……” The old man muttered to himself, thinking that if this had been in the past, he would have hit him straight away after three words, especially with someone like Oswald, for whom he didn’t need to be polite.

He shook his head and followed the emperor back to the council chamber, following far behind him. He intended to finish his breakfast and talk to Oswald later, but if that was not possible, he had to do something about it.

With breakfast to ease their minds, the group was much more efficient as they sat at the table again.

This time, the leader for the trip to the Old Rose Fortress was quickly decided upon – Wood, the deputy commander of the Red Iron Army. Nick, the second-in-command of the elite squad to the Tomb of Phae, became Wood’s second-in-command this time.

All legions had three days to prepare and set off at nightfall three days later, as planned, at separate approved times.

Kevin did not express any opinion on this for the time being, except to make up his mind to go back and beat up Oswald, even if he was the Emperor.

However, this plan did not materialise immediately, as something happened to Oswald when the meeting was dismissed.

The tall emperor faltered on his feet, propping himself up on the corner of the table with one hand, frowned and shook his head. He looked a bit uncomfortable.

“What is wrong with you, Your Majesty?” The minister nearest to him asked nervously.

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Although Oswald had not been in the position of the emperor for very long, most ministers and legion commanders had steadily sided with him mentally after the last incident with the holy water. They were very fond of the young emperor,  even though the emperor’s face was often strained and not very gentle.

Kevin turned his head abruptly to look at him. “Why? Dizzy?”

Oswald blinked hard, took a moment to relax, and squeezed his brow again before opening his eyes and standing up straight. “Nothing. It’s normal for my eyes to be uncomfortable after a night without sleep. Let’s go.”

The crowd looked worried and repeatedly confirmed, not quite looking at ease the entire time.

As a young man, Oswald was particularly defensive regarding his physique, as if the slightest physical problem was a great insult. When he got grossed out by the concern, the crowd finally left.

Kevin still intended to bug him, so instead of going straight back to the barracks, he followed Oswald towards the inner courtyard.

“What just happened? Was that really an uncomfortable eye?” Kevin asked again as he turned his head to look at him.

Oswald let out a “tch” and subconsciously exploded, but when he met Kevin’s gaze, he silently pushed back his impatience and said, “Something like that, just a sudden blackout, which is normal when you’re standing in a hurry.”

Kevin nodded and let out an “oh.”

Oswald squinted at him, “What are you doing following me here? Trying to convince me to let you head up to Old Rose Fortress again?”

Kevin nodded unabashedly, remarkably to the point.

“You ……” Oswald was slightly irritated by his blatant look. He paused and put a broad palm on Kevin’s shoulder, stopping Kevin’s stride before simply turning him around, “Are you looking for a fight, Excellency Fassbinder? The gate is that way. Get out.”

Kevin: “……”

“I think you’re really itchy all over!” His Excellency Kevin Fassbinder, who had previously considered himself very gentle, rolled his eyes as he pulled off a layer of his pretence skin and lifted his foot to strike the emperor in the face.

Oswald, who had been very experienced in combat, was quick to catch him by the calf and was about to use his strength to corner Kevin and restrain him when he heard Peter, the commander of the Imperial Rangers, arrive with another urgent report. “Your Majesty! The Imperial City has just received– Eh?”

Dumbfounded by the two men’s posture, Peter stood still as a solid rod.

Kevin unceremoniously used the momentum to jab Oswald in the waist with a bent leg, forcing the sidetracked Emperor to drop his leg.

Oswald wiped his face and looked up at Peter solemnly. “What’s the matter again? Speak.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt……” said the stick figure with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Damn you!” Oswald scolded. “What is it? Tell me.”

The rod did not know what he had done. Still, he knew that if he did not talk about the business, the emperor could really throw him out, so he hurriedly straightened his face and handed over a small roll of paper in his hand, “I just received this letter of distress from King Stowe of Peida City.”

Oswald unfolded the paper and quickly scanned it, understanding the situation. The kings of the city-states that had made a deal with Oswald had stayed in the Jinshi Empire for a while and had all returned to their cities gradually. They brought the refugees who had fled to the Jinshi Empire, both old and young, so they couldn’t move too fast and had just arrived in their respective countries.

The furthest away, King Stowe of Peida, was about to reach the city gates when he was attacked.

The attackers were Sand Ghosts, who had escaped the rainy season. They attacked like the wind, and before Stowe’s party could even resist, they had all fallen into the hands of the Sand Ghosts.

“Is there any new information about Peida City now?” Oswald asked with a furrowed brow.

“I sent someone to pry when I received the letter just now. I should hear back in a while.” Peter replied.

As expected, the men Peter had sent to gather information returned a few moments later, and they brought back two bad news–

First, Peida City had been taken over by the Sand Ghosts in a brief period, and all the people, even the king, had been taken into custody. Secondly, several other city-states had not been spared, and nearly all of them had been attacked, leaving them in a dire state.

“There is also not good but not bad news,” Peter added.

“What?” Oswald asked.

“Leiyin City has not yet fallen. King Theodore was delayed on his journey home by some business, only to receive news of the attack on the other countries halfway through the journey, and immediately turned back, hoping to get our support. When we received the news, their party had almost reached the state border.”

Theodore’s party came much sooner than they had expected and were in much more disarray, looking no different from the refugees before them.

Later that night, Theodore, dressed in a rag and with four personal guards even more ragged than he was, met Oswald and Kevin, who had not yet left the inner courtyard.

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