Chapter 211.

PART 1.

Hatori is brought to the castle. the ship lands, and the prisoner’s start to get off of the ship. They are still under the careful eye of the military. He is taken to the healing room, where James gives him some potions to recover from his poor nutrition, while others are also being evaluated for their health and for their loyalty.

“Some of them seem to have a lot of knowledge about where some secrets are buried.” Said Sundar to Raven, rubbing his hands. “I cannot wait to use this knowledge.”

“Don’t push them too far.” Said Raven. “You will need a deft hand to deal with them.”

“Of course.” Agreed the general.

For now, the prisoners who agreed to come are reaffirming their loyalty to the general and the throne, and also getting updates of what has happened since they were put in prison. Some of them have to take a seat to absorb the new information.

Kalicharan has disappeared. But for now, no one is looking for him. though Shin would like to ask about the old man who was with Hatori, he could not do so since Hatori himself is asleep, and under the care of James.

James is keeping guard over him. he does not let anyone disturb Hatori’s recovery. Not even the general dared to defy his orders, once he glared at him furiously.

PART 2.

The news of the destruction of the Black Water Prison is spread by the general, and it reaches far and wide. It also reached Porus, who is glad to hear it.

That prison had political prisoners who got in the crosshairs of noble families. As a result, they were put there to keep them from revealing their darkest secrets. Porus visited the place once. Though the king was in awe of keeping an island of steel floating in the sea for years, he never liked the general atmosphere of the prison and the miserable faces of the guards and the prisoners alike.

But now that atrocity is gone, he can rest easy. He goes back to writing graffiti on the wall of a pub visited by the nobles, questioning their intelligence, since they have confirmed that he is alive, and yet, failed to catch him. he also calls them out near the City of Throne, in the hope that they would show up there, and he would be able to slaughter them all once they arrive there at once.

PART 3.

The general is pressing to his advantage. He is coordinating with other military bases in the country, and now that he is free from the siege, he is laying the “smackdown” on the enemy, in the words of Shin.

“General!” said Bajrang and Raven, walking into his office.

“What is it now?” he asked, already knowing he would not like what he was about to hear. This much is clear from their expressions.

Also, he did not whine. Anyone who says otherwise will receive a swift and painful death.

Bajrang is the first one to speak. “We have received the news of the death of the emperor Zuo Chi.” He spoke.

“Well, damn.” Said the general. “All the old and powerful mages are dying slowly.”

“Yeah,” said Raven, thinking about it for a moment. “Anyway, that isn’t the only news.”

“I know. What’s the next piece of news?” asked the general.

“The rebels, after being outclassed by us due to the info we got from some of the prisoners, fled into the Pashtun territory.” Said Raven.

For a moment, Sundar sits like a statue after hearing this news. Raven and Bajrang know what kind of news they have delivered, so they wait for him to absorb this bit of information.

The Pashtun territory is in the middle of Iran and the Subcontinent. It is a land-locked area, and it has influences from both sides. Despite being a small territory compared to the two Asian powers on both ends; this territory has remained free for two reasons.

First, they have the luck on their side. Whoever decides to wage war in this territory suffers from bad luck and is locked in a long conflict, which ends in nothing. Some mages believe it is due to some curse laid down by a long-forgotten sorcerer. This curse affects whoever decides to invade and occupy this area.

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The second is because of the tribes who live there. they have fortified this area with magic, and they often take advantage of the mountains in this region to hide themselves from whoever dares to invade them, despite not having a large and advanced military, they have managed to keep this area protected from outsiders.

The Subcontinent hasn’t tried to invade them, aside from a few conflicts in which people from both sides participated independently, not involving the entirety of their countries, as a result, they have a much warmer relationship with the Subcontinent. The tribes have a council of elders, where every tribe has one elder in the council. long ago, they made an agreement with this council that whatever conflict is going on in the Subcontinent, they will not bring it into their homes.

But now this agreement, which has stood for almost a thousand years is broken. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—”

Raven and Bajrang walk out of the office. “Let’s leave him. he’ll cool off after a while,” said Bajrang.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Raven.

He is still thinking about what the general said. All the powerful mages who have been on top of this world for a while are dropping one by one. ‘Am I looking too much into this? Maybe they got old and weakened as a result, couldn’t that be the real reason?’ he thought, while ignoring the curses coming from the office of Sundar.

PART 4.

Zeko is keeping a guard over Hatori. James has trusted him with this responsibility since he knows that if anyone tries something, they will never find the body.

He observes the boy who used to be such a small kid but now has grown into this giant. Seriously, there is not much room on the bed left due to his great body. he has not seen him for almost one-and-half years, and now when he sees him, he is recovering from being sent to prison and tormented.

‘This should have not happened.’ He thinks, disappointed with himself.

In hindsight, the general, the Porus, the prime minister, and himself, all failed to see this brewing issue. The demands to summon the child, the constant budding heads with the king, blatant kidnapping attempts to suborn Hatori to their side, all those events prove that they seeded the initiative to the enemy, and now they are paying the price.

‘I wonder how much he has changed?’ thinks Zeko. ‘I must wait for him to wake up to find out.’

Hatori shifts on the bed, and then goes back to sleep, while Zeko watches over him. ‘Children grow so fast these days.’

PART 5.

The news of Zuo Chi’s death spreads. The details are hard to come by, though the papers are saying one thing in general: the emperor killed himself.

Porus mourns the death of his friend. ‘Looks like I am the only one remaining.’ He thought to himself.

When Porus took the throne, Pharaoh Ramses had already ruled for twenty years. apart from him, a great change took place during that time. but now, all of his contemporaries are lost, and he is the only survivor of his generation of rulers.

For a moment, he thought there might be some great conspiracy behind this, before dismissing the thought. He has more important things to do than chase smoke.

PART 6.

The group meets in a hotel which easily will get seven stars in the world of the reader of this story. At this point, they need just some mysterious eye as their symbol, and they can call themselves the Illuminati. Why the author does not call them is beyond this narrator.

“Our operations in the Subcontinent have collapsed entirely.” said the Succubi woman.

“Curses. I thought they would be more reliable than this.” Grumbled the Incubi man.

“No matter.” Said the human noble present in the meeting. “We still have a chance.”

“How so?” they ask, leaning forward to hear this.

“Our puppets have decided to flee to the Pashtun land.” His smirk widens as they realize the implications.

“Looks like we get to start a bigger fire this time.” said the Succubi woman with a sensual smirk.

They decide to leave Zhongguo alone since it is already experiencing chaos. They do not need to mettle there to make things worse than they already are.

Thus, another productive meeting comes to an end, and this group feels that they are this much closer to destroying the strong mages of this world and establishing their dominance over everyone.