Chapter 65: The Court Garden (1/2)

It was the day after the lower stages and gradually, people got back to their daily duties.

The King was in his study, signing off some documents. Beside him was Lucian, one of his five subordinates.

Lucian was a sixty(60) year old man, with a lot of experience added to his name. He was not well known, as those that knew him had already died due to the situation with the rifts.

”Caspian. What are you thinking?” asked Lucian.

If it were anywhere else, he would be required to address the King with his title, but here, he could speak freely with his student.

Caspian scrunched his brows, ”It is the nobles, particularly Duke Forst and Earl Vargas.”

Due to his duties, dark circles had piled under the King's eyes, and every day he had to cover it with light makeup.

Lucian asked him, ”Ohh, what is it?”

”Yesterday, I noticed the Duke was not present for the competition. When I asked, I was told that he was busy preparing instructions for his territory. Now, I know that is important, but something doesn't sit right with me.”

As a King, Caspian had developed an impressive intuition. Some of the situations he had faced could only be solved with the heart.

Lucian agreed, ”That, indeed, is strange. He could have done it any other time, but why then?”

Caspian informed his teacher, ”It was not only him. A few other nobles were missing, and most of them were in Duke Forst's closed circle.”

”Hmmm…...this is truly strange. Is this the emergence of another movement, another rebellion?” smiled Lucian.

Throughout his years of serving Caspian, he had seen a lot of rebellion, which had all failed. It was safe to say, as the leading kingdom of the south, there was little to no chance of a successful rebellion.

That was how tight the system in Aztec was!

On the surface, Aztec Kingdom employed a noble system, but truly, the most important parts are not left to the nobles.

For example, the army sector of the kingdom was in control of the King's brother, Royal Duke Conan, and assisted by him(Lucian), one of the king's subordinates.

The other sub-ordinates also watched over other sectors. Hawk was in charge of intelligence. Sia was in charge of Management. Flan was in charge of the economy, and Grif was in charge of Law enforcement.

Their respective duties were to watch over their sectors.

Lucian quizzed his student, ”So, what do you plan?”

His beloved student replied, ”I would have asked you to check it out, but I need you here, in case of any emergency. Hawk is also too busy investigating the mysterious organization. It seems like I would have to pull out Grif for this.”

Lucian nodded at the Caspian, showing his full agreement.

After they had decided on the matter of Duke Forst, he questioned again, ”What issue is there with Earl Vargas?”

Using his arms to hold his chin, Caspian replied, ”It is a letter a received from Viscount Elliot. Apparently, one of the members of the Vargas Family trespassed into their territory through the dark forest. That is not all, in the letter, it was fully implied that the member possessed a forbidden pill.”

”What were they doing in another territory?” Lucian asked the important question.

”They were searching for the remains of an unaffiliated [Realm-3] cultivator, not from our kingdom. Quite funny, due to wanting to keep the news quiet, they were beaten to it by a commoner. I believe his name is Ray. I saw him at the competition,” replied the King.

He was not fazed as he recounted the whole event. Not even bothered by the treasures of a [Realm-3] cultivator.

Wasn't he also a [Realm-3] cultivator?

If it was a [Realm-4] cultivator, it would have been a different case, as, throughout the history of Aztec, there had been no known [Realm-4] cultivator.

That was how difficult [Realm-4] was to achieve. [Realm-3] was the limit of the southern continent. Only, the sects on the islands possessed a [Realm-4] cultivator.

Lucian pondered on Caspian's words and asked him, ”What type of forbidden pill was it? Maybe, we can trace its origin through it.”

The two of them took this matter seriously because years ago, they had banned forbidden pills from entering their kingdom.

All their imported goods were occasionally checked, so they were no way Vargas Family could have gotten the pill from there.

There had to be another source.

The King rubbed on his head, as he felt another pounding issue coming his way.

Seeing this, Lucian asked, ”What do you plan?”

”What else? I sent for one of Hawk's subordinates to investigate the matter!”

”So, what have you thinking this deep? The Vargas issue is still a bit trivial,” probed Lucian.

”The problems I have been receiving throughout this year are increasing exponentially. I am beginning to worry,” smiled Caspian.

He continued, ”Oh, I just remembered. The barrier of the Pinesun's zombie mine has a hole. Where is the next Array master?”