CHAPTER 29

Elder Lan went back to the pavilion. He was grinning. It was sad that he had to trick one of his old friend but, as he said, those two were more important. It was time for the plan to begin. He sent a letter to a new acquaintance of his and waited.

Nearly at the same time, a group of twenty men and women arrived at the teahouse in the forest. They were all martial cultivators. Each of them came from a different clan but they all shared one thing in common: they had one of their youngest die here.

By honor, the Burning Sea School is bound to call the families of dead disciples. They provide the family with both the location and reason of their child’s death. This time, they sent the location of the tea house as well as the mission notification. A mission that had been delivered directly on orders from a grand elder. Of course, this smelled fishy so they got together and went to investigate.

It is not rare for one or a few disciples to die in missions but for more than 1500 at the same time? And during a mission provided by a grand elder? This was a bit too much and screamed ‘set-up’.

As they arrived, one of the men came in front of the teahouse and started screaming. The kid he lost here wasn’t just one out of many of his clan, it was his own child. His only one at that. The sorrow he bore ran deep. A woman walked up to him and slapped him hard.

“Don’t be a disgrace Uri Drin. We all lost someone important here.

-You are right Na Eli. Rollbacker, do your job. Q-u-i-c-k-l-y.

-Yes, senior Drin.”

A man slightly older than all others moved forward and sat down. Then he began concentrating his energy around. An inoffensive whirlwind of energy started and encompassed the perimeter around the teahouse. Then, just like ghosts, figures appeared. They were the dead disciples.

The scene of their deaths was played again through the understanding of energies. This was done by the sitting man, a rollbacker. Seeing their child being slaughtered like livestock in such brutal ways made their hearts violently shake from anger. Their fists were clenched so hard that many had blood gushing out of them. Uri Drin was enraged as he tried to grasp his child dying body. Unfortunately, it was only a representation created artificially by manipulating the residual energy.

Tears were flowing down everyone’s faces. A few of them put on hoods to hide their sadness. After it happened, all the people there knew the ones responsible for their child’s deaths. And they knew exactly where to go to enact revenge. But first, they had to go back to their clans and report. This corresponds with the time left to live for both Mir and Oka.

The next morning, a golden carriage was driven through the bridge connecting the Burning Sea School and the land. He was guarded heavily by ten powerful martial artists. Inside of it, there was a man. He was the one elder Lan contacted previously by letter. As soon as he received it, he made time to visit.

As he arrived at the front gates, they were opened even though it wasn’t the scheduled day. This showed how important a figure this guest was. And, awaiting him behind the giant door were two grand elders. Elder Fin and Elder Lan. The carriage stopped inside in front of them and the passenger door was opened by a guard. A man in shining golden armor got out of it. He exuded a noble air…Until he saw elder Lan. He grinned and said:

“Elder Lan! It’s been so long, I missed you! We should go gambling again soon!

-Ninth Prince, Mare Reg Nio, I am overjoyed to see you again. I am glad that you could take your time to come today.

-Yes, your message was…Felt like I should come right away. So, I did.

-I still offer you my thanks. This is my elder brother and a grand elder as well, Quin Fin. We will be discussing what I wrote in the letter together if you don’t mind.

-It is an honor to meet you, Ninth Prince.

-Likewise. Anyway, we should go someplace else.

-Of course, ninth prince, if you could follow us, please.”

The prince told his guards to wait for him at the entrance with the carriage ready to depart at any given time. He followed the elders back to the herbal pavilion. They went directly to the third floor and led the prince to the table they so often used.

There, Mir and Oka were slurping tea. The prince smirked at seeing the kid that enabled him to reach the highest status he could ever have had. All three of the old men sat down and the prince broke the silence directly:

“Little brother Mir, I am glad to see you well. The letter mentioned that you were having some complications so I am relieved.

-We really have some complications as you say though.

-Why not brighten my lantern? The letter was very succinct.”

As he said that, he looked towards elder Lan. Getting the hint, elder Lan stated:

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“It was not a matter to be discussed by letters, please forgive my action ninth prince.

-Sure. But did you have to write that little Mir was dying?

-That’s…”

There was a brief period of silence before Mir began:

“It does not matter. I am just glad that you came for me, ninth prince.

-Of course, I would. You gave me so much. I don’t forget my patrons, ever. I guess you contacted me in such a way because you had an urgent need of my help, what is it? Spill it out.”

Mir turned to elder Lan at that time. They had decided it would be better if it was the elder who spoke the facts. After all, elder Lan was the only one here who knew the prince, the events and a way to save both kids. And he spoke:

“This kid here is Oka, Mir’s friend. He was bullied before and left to die on the bridge when we first reached the school two and some years ago. At that time, he was a rank 1 fourth realm and in this small period, he reached rank 2. He was also able to awaken his bloodline.

-What’s your bloodline, kid?

-Silver Alpha Wolf, prince.”

The prince nodded at Oka who spoke and turned back to elder Lan who started speaking again:

“A few days ago, they both went outside. They laid a trap for one of our outer zone alliances and exterminated 1532 elite outer disciples. In this school, we don’t bother with what happens outside the gates but, in case a disciple kills a fellow disciple outside, while we won’t act ourselves, we won’t interfere with outsiders asking for revenge and justice.

-Basically, the kids are in imminent danger due to their rash actions.

-That is right.

-Can’t you two elders do something about this trivial situation?

-Unfortunately, we are to not interfere in this kind of cases. As school grand elders, we are bound by some rules and we can’t act.

-You are powerless to protect them from outsiders? Well, that’s a nice school there.

-It applies only because they killed fellow disciples themselves.

-Who are targeting them?

-Out of the 1532 disciples, there were 142 coming from named clans.

-The kids are doomed then. No wonder you called me. What do you expect from me anyways?

-To save them.

-I will not slaughter a single named clan. Even as a prince running for king, such actions would be impossible. I am not taking a single risk to my new status.

-We wouldn’t want you to either. What we would like is for you to organize a school transfer.”

A school transfer. In martial school, it is a rare occurrence. It means to send a disciple to a new school and cutting ties with him, most of the time. No martial school would want to have a transfer done, even more so when it came to important disciples. They are, after all, the future of the school itself. It is a taboo to all. Because of this, the prince furrowed his brows slightly. A taboo would not be well seen if orchestrated by a prince. He asked:

“Where do you want to transfer and why?

-To the Royal Palace School. If they went there, no one would dare to go after them, even named clans.

-No. They can’t. Only the high-nobility and distinguished figures are allowed in. They aren’t.

-But, you are, ninth prince.”

This sentence meant it all. They made the prince rush here because they needed his status to get Mir and Oka to safety. And the only way to protect them was to send them somewhere no one would dare attack. The Royal Palace School was the number one school in the kingdom for all aspects.

Only the best wasn’t a motto but a truth. But the requirements to enter were the highest. As the prince said, one must be from an influential background. But that’s just the first requirement. They need to be talented too. However, in exchange, they would have access to the vastest amount of resources a disciple could hope for and the pointers from the greatest martial instructors. It was a dream school for all martial cultivators in the kingdom.

Going there would be the best for Mir. He was a talented child in other’s eyes. Oka was a bit more average in talent but his bloodline was compensation enough to have him meet the requirements. And that was when considering him saying his bloodline was a Silver Alpha Wolf and not a Violent Flesh-eater Giant Silver Alpha Wolf. If his true bloodline was known…And if Mir’s bloodline was known as well… It would put them as more than just talented.

But it would also attract far too much attention. They are already in danger, there was no need to add more complications, that Mir understood. If only he knew about Rollbackers before he planned Oka’s revenge, then he wouldn’t be in a tight spot. And now, his safety and future relied in someone else’s hands. Humans just don’t learn.

In his previous life, this situation happened and led to his suicide yet, once more, he was reliving it. Humans, they accept your help with open arms but when it is time for them to help you, they close them. He could only pray that the prince would help him.

The prince wasn’t up for it to say the least. He was thinking hard. Sure, using his name, he could get them into the school. He knew they were talented enough and his name would be enough to bypass the status requirements. But to what price? He would be selling himself as one who protect murderers of fellow disciples.

To someone running for the highest position in the kingdom, it would be a heavy burden. Sure, Mir is the only reason he has what he has but so what? Mir earned a lot through it too and the deal was done. What left does he owe him? Nothing.

He came here because the letter said Mir was dying and it would have made for a nice image promotion to go pay his respect to his dead corpse. He would have owned the opinion of the Burning Sea School and as a major martial school, it was worth the trip.

But now what? Using his name to bring in murderers into the Royal Palace martial school? As if. It does not matter how talented the kids are, it is not worth it. Helping to receive a loss? Of course, he doesn’t want to. So, he answered:

“No, I won’t use my name to have them enter.”

As he said it, elder Lan jumped out of his chair and screamed:

“How could you?! After everything he did?! Don’t you remember how you earned everything thanks to him?!”

The prince wasn’t fazed by elder Lan in the slightest and snorted a laugh then answered him:

“We had a deal then, we are now. The deal was honored and we have no more deal going on.

-Then, let us make another one.”

Was what Mir said, interrupting the discussion between old men. The prince looked at him and a crooked smile appeared on his face. He said:

“State the terms.

-You bring us to the Royal Palace martial school and make sure we become disciples there, both Oka and me. What do you want in exchange?”

The prince chuckled. This was better. If he could get something out of it, then it would be worth it. It was at least better to stay and negotiate till the end, seeing this through in order to not have regrets later. He had time on his side so he answered Mir’s question slowly. He already knew what he wanted since the beginning:

“I want the both of you to pledge loyalty to my faction.”

Mir had obviously known what this meant. It was definitely like a contract of sorts but what were the obligations? He didn’t know. So, he faked a smile and dealt with it making others think he was clueless.   Seeing the expression on Oka and the elders faces, he was sure of one thing. He had to ask.

“What does that mean?”