Ei'en's royal palace was considered one of the greatest structures of all the Kuro Empire, if not most of the known world. This was merely not just a palace, it was a fortress that was built into the mountains that ran along the back of Ei'en giving the royal family a birds eye view of Ei'en and hundreds of miles in every direction. The city of Ei'en held countless millions of people and was one of the largest cities of the Kuro Empire, possibly only rivaled by some of its major port cities to the east. The Climate of Ei'en and the surrounding lands was hot and humid compared to the northern reaches of the empire even though it was mountainous.

Ryohei looked down on the city carefully; he was certain today would prove entertaining; The arena was always a good place to recruit fresh talent into his personal guard and today was rumored to be a good one. Grabbing his katana he went to go to his palanquin. It was much more peaceful for him to travel this way so that he wasn't surrounded by young girls who didn't realize he was old enough to be their grandfather.

The usefulness of looking youthful due to cultivation had many advantages, the constant badgering of the youth was not one of them. Ryohei maybe twenty years ago would have swept many of these girls off for a night, but that simply wasn’t something he could approve of. Ryohei had little use for romance at this stage in his life; his wife and two concubines kept him happy enough. Even if the two concubines were simply political he still had grown quite fond of them and to his joy they rarely fought with one another out of jealousy. Though he was not blind to see them all fighting for their own children to gain his favor.

The streets of Ei'en were always so crowded, but Ryohei enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city and in his youth it would have irritated him, but he no longer held those childish whims. Perhaps it was due to age, but he had come to regret many of his brash decisions in his youth. In fact fifty years ago he was known as a tyrant. Now his image had largely changed.

"Crown Prince we are almost to the arena." One of his guards called to him. All of them were extremely powerful in their own right and he had little to fear of assassination. That wasn’t including the fact that on the mainland continent he was likely one of the top ten ki cultivators and as far as he knew his father was the top unless some hidden cultivator existed in a nation outside of Kuro which he found unlikely.

"Let me out at the entrance. It is good for the people to see their prince in public on occasion.” The commoners were often easy to please, but since the war with Kalimdah had taken a toll on the general happiness of the people it was all the more important to rally the people.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"As you wish milord." The guard bowed before closing the small window of the palanquin

Ryohei could feel the palanquin carriers slowing down until they stopped and slowly lowered it to the ground. Cracking his neck and shoulders he climbed out to see a small crowd of civilians surrounding all cheering as he stepped out.

"It is the crown prince!"

"He is so handsome"

“Isn’t he an old man?”

"Is he here for the arena today?"

The crowd chattered away with mindless gossip that Ryohei didn't care much for; he smiled and waved at the crowd before heading into the area that stood out in this district of the city. It was at least six stories tall and could fit many thousands of people in it at any one time. Walking through the crowd was easy enough it was impossible for anyone to not pay attention and run into him with his six guards surrounding him. It gave him the ability to observe the crowd and his eyes scanned each person he often imagined what their daily lives were like being so oblivious to the threats that plagued the empire.

"It must be nice to be so carefree" he whispered to himself.

Looking around some more his heart stopped for a moment as his eyes fell on a sight he never thought he would see again in his life with every second his heart sounded like a drum in his ears. It was the image that had haunted him for nearly fifty years. Before him stood a young girl no older than 14 years old with the same piercing blue eyes as the girl from fifty years ago. He blinked several times stopping in his tracks looking at the girl who was standing beside a quite tall woman who wore the Phoenix academy robes of a master.

'This isn't possible' he thought 'is this her ghost or a reincarnation sent by a deity to mock me?' Ryohei looked at her thoroughly. There was no mistake she was identical to that girl from so long ago. His biggest regret. The group that was with the girl all turned and began to walk towards the stadium's stands leaving Ryohei staring at the spot the girl previously stood. The one major event from his youth that still haunted him. While everything else could be shrugged off as youthful ineptitude. This event was the one thing that lingered in his mind.

"Lord Ryohei?" A voice of one of his guards broke through his inner thoughts "did you see something milord?"

"Send someone to fetch Kuronuma and tell him to meet me at the observation platform in the arena without hesitation." Ryohei said breathlessly.

"Is something the matter milord?" The guard asked, his face scrunched up in concern.

"Just do it!" he said with a slight snarl.

The guard nodded immediately running out towards the main entrance.