CHAPTER 30

The prince was surprised a bit then remembered Mir was relatively young and from a poor background. It wasn’t inconceivable that he didn’t know that so he smiled and explained.

“It means that you swear on your life to live to serve under me, sharing both ups and downs. More ups than downs, hopefully. Doing so, you would earn the title of Royal Prince Guard and from then on, benefit from my name and status. Entering that Royal Palace School? Easy.

-My whole life?!

-That’s right. You are asking me to save your asses. What better price than your life itself?

-I refuse. The rest of my life is not worth being saved once.”

A life of servitude under someone? As if! Mir would never work for anyone but himself ever again. Still, he had to find a way to get the prince’s help. He breathed hard and said:

“How many rank 4 items do you want?

-So, you saw through it right away, uh? Then, let us not waste time. I want them all.”

The prince was smart. He wished for Mir and Oka as his subordinate but no one in their right mind would agree to pledge a lifelong oath of loyalty. Even Oka would rather die. If Mir and elder Lan asked him to when they met him, he would have chosen to die.

The reason he decided to ask for this was because this was a negotiation. He is the one in power so he asked first for an impossible amount. A life of slavery is the most one can sell, whoever they are. From there, whatever he asks for will feel as if it was reasonable even though it is not. And of course, it is not.

All rank-4 items Mir had? He had 44 from his bet alongside the prince, two he got from the prince and two from his betting alongside elder Lan. This was a lot. Worth enough to hire martial artists to deal with the problem without having to change school.

Even the prince believed it was too much and hoped to end with a portion of them. If he could get ten of them, it would already be more than worth it to help the kids. Hell, it would be worth it for two of such items. He was already planning his next move after Mir’s rejection and he did not predict wrong. Mir told him:

“Impossible, that’s far too much. I could just sell a few and hire someone else to deal with the problem.

-Probably but you would not get the chance to enter the number one school in the kingdom.

-Ah…You’re right. Fine, let us do it this way then. But, I want to make an oath. It would be too easy for you to end us after I gave you the items.

-Not trusting me, are you? I can’t blame you though. Very well. Do you know how to make an oath, little brother Mir?

-No, I don’t.

-We shake hands and as we pledge, we channel our energies into each other’s.”

Mir and the Prince got up and stood in front of each other. They extended their hands and shake them. At the same time, Mir said:

“I pledge to give all the rank 4 items I own presently to the Prince in exchange for him making sure Oka and I enter the Royal Palace Martial school safely.”

And the Prince repeated:

“I pledge to make sure Oka and Mir enter the Royal Palace Martial School safely in exchange for all rank 4 items owned presently by little brother Mir.”

A ray of light enveloped their hands and the oath was completed. Then, everyone but the Prince started laughing like crazy. What was going on? The prince was perplexed and then, Mir, between two laughs, handed him his space bag and said:

“Here is all that I own presently, please pick any rank 4 items there is.”

The Prince took the bag with a greedy heart and as he swept through the contents, began laughing like everyone else. After some time, he took a seat and said:

“I can’t believe you tricked me that easily. To think a single word would change everything. Presently. Damn it all! This is one hell of a lesson. What did you even do with the items?

-I gave them for free to Oka. You were so focused on your assumption that I owned the items that you failed to predict anything. I thought I would negotiate a bit more with you first, to reach a fixed number of items but then you asked for all of them. No need to count the goods if you get them all, right? So, it became easy to trick you.

-Congratulations. You just earned a free trip to the Royal Palace School from a prince. But, don’t you think I would rob you of the items after slaughtering you kids? I mean, you asked for an oath to dodge that risk, didn’t you?

-I did not ask for an oath to dodge that risk. First, the presently and second, the safely. You can’t hurt us, rather you pledged to protect us. We are both safe.

-What a cunning kid you are. Ah, I guess the blame is on me for trying to trick kids. It doesn’t cost me much to get you there anyways.

-I thought your image would go down because of us?

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-Yes. But you will make it go back up and reach higher soon when you guys get to the school so it would have been fine either way.

-You really tried to trick me out of my items, didn’t you?

-Ahahah, yes... I can’t believe I tried to rob a newborn’s lollipop. Well, I am getting vile with time. Whatever, you guys pack your stuff. We depart whenever you are ready.

-We are.

-Perfect. Then let us not waste time. As a prince, I am a busy man even if I don’t look the part, ahahah!”

Few moments later, Mir and Oka were going inside the golden carriage with the Prince. They took their belongings and bid their farewells to both elder Lan and elder Fin. While Mir was speaking as if it was the last time they would meet, both elders, eager to see him again, were joking around with it. They thought he was only a child that was going to miss them. They had, after all, nurtured him for a few of his youngest years. It wasn’t like that however, yet only Mir knew about the truth…

The carriage left the school with two young promising kids inside. Mir asked the prince:

“Elder Brother Nio, how long will it take to reach the school?

-Around fifteen days I guess.

-That much?! But you came here so fast after receiving elder Lan’s letter!

-I was visiting a clan close by. However, now, we must do all the distance from the burning sea school to that clan’s homeland and then, from there to the school. Obviously, it won’t be instantaneous. But don’t worry, my guards aren’t for show and I am not a pushover either. You two kids just relax and enjoy the scenery.”

Since they had long days of travel ahead, both Mir and Oka decided to cultivate.

…

The same day, elder Fin went to dispose of all documents related to Mir and Oka, gave an explanation to the headmaster and finally, went to the Sculpture Mountain. There, he had the sculpture mountain grand elder destroy the statue of Mir. This settled everything. There were no more physical evidences of Mir ever coming here.

…

4 Days later, at the Burning Sea School, came a delegation of small clans. They were small clans but clans nonetheless and if so many came, it was not for a small matter. As they entered, they were received by the headmaster himself. The next day, elder Lan was beheaded in public. He was accused of treachery, murder and treason to only name a few of the charges. And just as elder Lan got his head chopped off, elder Fin started suffering from his core and died as well a few days later. It was deemed due to mental pain from the loss of his brother.

…

10days after Mir departed, the news of both elder’s death came in. Everyone was surprised, except Mir. The thing is, it was part of his plan from the start. He was the one behind those deaths.

At the time, he had to submit a mission order to the Outer Fire Alliance for the plan to work. Being officially the grand elder’s assistant, he had the rights to do so. But he didn’t only submit one mission order. He submitted two. The first one was for the Outer Fire Alliance but the second one was different. On it were written assassination orders:

MISSION ORDER

Eliminate All disciples coming to the teahouse in the forest (coordinates 0.2/0.5) the fifth of the second month after this order is submitted.

Disciples Required to perform the task: Core disciple Mir, Outer zone disciple Oka

Conditions: Grand elder’s direct order

GRAND ELDER LAN

This was a valid order submitted to the mission department. Because of this paper, even though Mir and Oka were the ones doing the killings, the responsibilities lied with elder Lan. Of course, the poor old man had no idea this paper existed and never did. He died without knowing he was framed by the kid he tried so hard to help…

What’s more, he dug his own grave. He went to see Elder Oln previously. The grand elder responsible for the mission mountain. He thought he went there to show his stance on the matter, in hope to dissuade the clans but it turned out that Mir tricked him. He sent the elder there so that he would make sure elder Oln ‘s opinion of elder Lan crumbled.

Mir heard lots about all elders in the years he stayed in this school. He knew elder Oln was the serious and honest type, the kind who disliked injustice the most. By sending the elder there to have him show his stance, he made sure that elder Oln wouldn’t hide the second mission order. Oln either sent the second mission order because he lost faith in elder Lan or to respect elder Lan’s wish to protect the kids.

Either way, the old elder Lan killed himself unknowingly.

For elder Fin, it was even easier. Mir was the one who gave him the recipe to restore his core. It was more than that. The recipe was having him regrow a core, sure, but it was also linking him to another. The recipe stipulated that two pills had to be made and one should be eaten by the patient while the other by a member of his family, blood-related. What wasn’t written was that this link created through the consumption of pills meant that if one died, the other would follow. They unknowingly swallowed pills that linked their lives.

As to why Mir killed them, it is obvious. They were the only ones who knew about the real power inside his eyes and what he could do as well as Oka’s true bloodline… Except for Oka but Oka is a pawn and he presents no risks.

Elder Lan already showed his true colors a few times. He once thought about killing Mir when he discovered his ability to grow cores. Mir couldn’t let him live for both reasons. One, he could not have someone who knew about his power remain alive, it was an insecurity. And Two, he already showed that he might kill Mir if needed.

Mir did not have a choice or rather, he chose the rational way. If there is a problem, the best way is to dispose of it rather than find a solution. From now on, Mir would not have to worry about the two elders and he would never have to worry about the clans either since they had their vengeance by seeing elder Lan to his death.Everyone knows that a task from a grand elder cannot be refused so the clans didn’t bear any grudges towards the kids, only the elder.

The burning Sea school case was closed.

They were already far from the Burning Sea School and both funerals had been held properly already so they kept going towards the Royal Palace School. And soon enough, they reached the place, a day later than the prince hoped for. However, they managed to arrive on-time.

The prince told them that even though they met the status requirements thanks to him, they still had to demonstrate their abilities. The recruitment was once every month and the next time was in three days. They would not have to wait too long. It was good for the prince as well. Because of his oath, he could not leave until the kids were in… Until then, they cultivated.

And finally, it was time to take the entrance exam. The prince came in their hotel room with a bright smile and said:

“Today is the day, kids! Put on your best outfits! Make sure to pass those tests with flying colors! I don’t want my name shamed because of you little twerps, ahahah!

-You seem to be in a great mood, elder brother Nio.

-I am! I got wind of some great news.

-Don’t tease us, what is it, elder brother Nio?

-Ahah, four of my brothers are presenting their own people to the entrance exam this time! Make sure to give them hell! Now, let us depart! Ahahah!”

The prince was jumping of joy, expecting to see his brothers shame at the incompetence of their disciples. Sure, Mir and Oka weren’t his disciples or even from his faction..yet..But he remained their parrain, their benefactor. And to others, his name would be associated to the kids. Their results would affect him in one way or the other. At least, in this school, it would.