we had ditched the dungeon long ago. well, if we were to bring a structure full of military weapons to the Capital well it would jump-start that idiotic war that too with both of the factions pointing their weapons at me and then at themselves.

anyways it was time for me to get my reward. if the rumours were true, I could finally free myself of the dagger's influence.

I have told you about the daggers ability. naturally, such a power had its disadvantages. the dagger absorbed the soul of the beings that I killed. it also absorbed their will, their negative emotions, and their hatred towards me. the will of so many beings, resenting me, hating me gradually turned into my daggers will.

every time I held that dagger in my hand, there was a voice in my head. it was more of a whisper rather than a voice. very quiet and silent, but I think that's what makes it so deadly. sometimes I find myself holding that dagger near my throat, ready to cut myself without realising when the blade had reached there. the voice has become more persistent in trying to make me kill myself. the more I kill the stronger it became. after a limit, the dagger began to grow a personality, it began to whisper in my ears to kill everything that is around me and I have lost control a couple of times. it also had a desire to grow.

while I could still use the power of the dagger pretty normally till now, it is growing stronger. even now when I am not using the dagger, I tend to give it to phantom or rock.

anyways we were pretty close to the capital. the capital was I think a few hills over.

the mountain ranges we are on are famously called the royal mountains. the reason for its fame was its mountains. they were gentle enough to allow the flow of merchants and traders, but if an army were to enter these ranges. they would find that the hundreds of mountains made progress very hard especially with the Capital standing above them like a patient eagle getting ready to swoop on them and rip them to pieces.

( after a while, as we were exactly at the five-kilometer line, the border for the capital. )

voice in the head - don't you dare step any further. step any further and by the laws of the civil war, you shall be executed.

I knew that voice and I knew what that voice speaking meant.

me - fifth elder, why are the rules of the civil war already in place. isn't it at least six months away.

fifth elder - I don't know kid, but I think it has something to do with you .wait a second, one of the young ones wants to talk to you. he will be coming pretty soon. don't stir up any trouble while I am gone, I have enough work on my head as it is.

war was very orderly in this empire. the very first emperor of the black wind empire set up some very strict rules about going to war especially, a civil war. there were two factions that could participate in a civil war.

that was the faction of the prince and the emperor. first, the faction of the prince would issue a declaration of war, that is tell the king to abandon his throne or to fight for it. then the king would naturally do that. then they were given a grace period of two years where both the factions build up their power and recruit young ones . after two years was the beginning of a bloody war, to be honest not so bloody, because only the young ones were allowed to fight. you see, a civil war can only be fought between young men who were between seventeen to twenty-five years of age. all of this was overseen by the honour guard, which was meant to enforce the laws of the civil war. all of these rules were naturally meant to minimize the losses caused by civil war and ensure a smooth transfer of power and also motivate the powerful factions to cultivate a strong younger generation.

to be honest, the honour guard is the most terrifying force of them all. that person whom I just called fifth elder was the fifth emperor of the black wind empire.

up till there have been nine emperors in the black wind empire and among them only five are alive and all are a part of the honour guard.

the fifth emperor shows a bit too much interest in me, if you want me to be honest.

anyways, the five-kilometer border was another rule of the civil war. no neutral forces could enter within five kilometers of the city. similarly, none of the involved parties could leave. that included the honour guard. so whichever guy we had to meet, if he was to meet us here it would be possible only here. though I had a pretty good idea who it could be.

(after a while, I was standing at the edge of the border talking to the guy in front of me. he was wearing a white armor, which signified his position of honour guard )

me - so the legendary teacher becomes an honour guard.

teacher - I couldn't help it. it was the only way I can ensure the safety of all my disciples. it was not their fault you know. their families forced them to support their respective factions. they are kind of like you only. even you were forced into this dirty pool, weren't you?

me - whatever, we haven't come here to discuss our pasts. so tell me what the hell happened here. why are we suddenly in civil war ?.

teacher - well you have properly screwed us over. exactly a week before, you created a windstorm didn't you?

me - that was me. I was just saving my life.

teacher - you know how manipulating the wind is. you have to keep it in check or it will easily lose control. you lost control and the windstorm you created crashed into dungeons of at least five minotaurs. the other empire has already been planning an attack most likely for a long time. much before the civil war was declared.

me - so shouldn't they unite and deal with the enemy outside and then get back to fighting if they want to after that.

me - as soon as your windstorm grew out of control, the phantom world sent an ambassador, to guarantee that they are not planning this attack.

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me - and you trusted them just like that. what did they promise?

teacher - it's more of who they sent. they sent the crown prince of the phantom world empire. so even the emperor is ready to believe that the phantom world empire is not about to attack. maybe they planned to before, but now they aren't. as long as the prince remains here, at least, we don't need to worry about an attack.

me - anyways you did not tell me how this civil war came about to be? because as far as I remember, both of them were still gathering their forces and both the emperor and the prince are not impulsive.

teacher - as I have said, it's your fault. they can't decide on whether they want to reward you or to punish you. the emperor wants to reward you and kick the ambassador outside. the prince wants to punish you and please the ambassador.

me - that prince is too much of a pacifist if you ask me. while peace talks are important, one can't become a dog listening to their every command, can they ?. he at least needs to act like he is refusing.

teacher - but that's a good thing right. we had enough trigger-happy leaders, as it is. at least he is trying to hold peace talks. not like the emperor and those before him.

fifth emperor - immortal you do remember that this trigger happy emperor can hear you. teacher as for you, we have a lot to talk about, especially the amount of respect you seem to hold for the emperors

how the hell was it my fault. anyways, I continued.

me - continue with the argument. so, the emperor and prince must have met in the negotiation castle.

teacher - naturally where else have you seen those two settle down enough to negotiate.

me - leave that be it's not my place anyways. tell me what I need to know, are the old men active again. has the book of the bloody mage activated.

teacher - yes, the book has been activated. as for who holds it, I don't know. as for the old men they have taken their old position and are getting ready for war.

me -they have returned to dragon outpost. what is happening this year? it's like everybody is going to war with each other. anyways with whom are they going to war.

teacher - with nobody. they are just preparing for war. they believe they are going to be attacked soon. as for the one who awakened the book, I have no idea. all I have heard is that before the attack there were two orphans with no family backing them in the city who were suddenly sentenced to the dragon outpost without rhyme or reason .you must know of them. they have become pretty famous recently. the mind destroyer mist dragon and the guy who holds the slayer title of this generation, Dragon Slayer.

me - the slayer title has already been passed. what happens to demon slayer. has he died already?

teacher - he died a few years ago, after your body was just unsealed. anyways, I want to talk about the city of madness. you do know its importance. the old men left the city at the completely wrong time.

me - why what happens to the city, it should still be fine. the old men must have taken good care of it.

teacher - that is the problem. the old men have pampered the citizens too much. it has been taken over by merchants already.

me - which merchants would be so..... oh fuck. you mean, slave traders.

teacher - yes, the old men are powerful generals but they are not good leaders. I am not sure exactly what happened over there but I know this, their army is a joke, especially for a place of their importance and the slave merchants are already abandoning that place. it will be a paper tiger soon enough, once that city falls, well, we will have a lot to worry about.

me - so you want me to take over the city of madness and clean it up. while I know I am royalty, not even I can take over a place like that without offending the emperor.

teacher - right now he is busy. the city takes preference. if it falls a hole will be created in our defenses and right now I don't want that. something is wrong this season, you can smell it in the air. he will understand if you take over.

me - whatever, I will take care of the city. but I can't do it alone. I will need an army to do so.

teacher - you can have one of my troops. the alpha troop is my best troop. it will be enough to hold the city.

me - that's not what I need, you have the book of the thousand armies with you. I want the book.

teacher - how the hell do you know about it.

nobody knows about the book except me.

me - I have my ways. I have known about the book since the beginning, ever since I was removed from my jail.

teacher - fine, I will give the book to you. whatever happens after that you deal with it.

me - okay then, give me the book then teacher - do you take me for a fool, the book is not with me. I will get it to you later. you will get in the city of madness.

me - I will go now then. make sure that I get the book or my rage will be something you can't bear.

teacher - fine.

and he disappeared. he had some kind of space manipulation ability. that why catching him was very hard.

the city of madness was one of the most important cities of our empire. the lands of the empire are mostly situated in a mountainous region, with a ring of very large mountains surrounding us acting as a border for us.

there were a few passages that lead outside. these are our main spots of trade. the city of madness was built in the middle of such a passage except this passage lead to the beast forests. there were no real trade opportunities over there unless you count slave traders.

therefore that city was always under the surveillance of many forces. without any military, that city won't last for a very long time and once it fell, let's just say that a lot of innocents would die.

if it was any other place, I would not take charge of a city again, even for the book of a thousand armies.

but the city of madness could not fall, which was something my annoying friend was correct about.

it looks like the book of bloody mage will have to wait again.