CHAPTER 2261  CHANGES

After all, while Rui's contributions increased the affinity of Martial Artists with the Master Realm, the Gatekeeper's contributions would be a much more fundamental increment across all Realms. After all, all Realms required training, but not all Realms required thought.

Rui himself was quite intrigued by the man's Martial Mind and was curious whether he could benefit from it himself. When it came to training methodologies and things outside of his Martial Art, Rui had no qualms about mooching off of the Gatekeeper's great progress in that regard.

"…And all clear," the Divine Doctor's voice broke him out of his thought. "You're good to go. Try not to die before you help me with my patient."

He headed to leave unceremoniously.

"Wait," Rui stopped him. "How… how is Julian?"

Julian had been working under him for many years now, studying the alien specimen and regulating the manifold through it.

"Intelligent and competent," the Divine Doctor remarked lightly. "Anything else? My time is priceless."

It was quite a praise coming from the Divine Doctor himself, even if that wasn't what Rui was referring to.

"…No." He heaved a sigh, shaking his head as he watched the man nonchalantly leave the medical ward and head back to his work. He would need to check up on the orphanage village when he was done with more pressing matters. After all, he hadn't seen his family since the Kandrian Empire was declared to be in a state of national emergency, and they were evacuating to the Town of Hajin.

Of course, he had no real reason to be concerned, but that did not mean that he didn't worry about their well-being.

A national emergency and evacuation could be extremely scary for civilians.

"Lead the way," he addressed the four Masters who stood guard for him. "I would rather finish this right away than let it persist."

Unsurprisingly, it turned out he was in the medical wing of the Vargard Royal Palace. His father's office was merely a two-minute walk to his father's office.

CLACK

The enormous gates to the ostentatious office that lay within opened, revealing his father sitting at his table, studying a large number of documents scattered about his table.

"How do you feel?" he smiled, getting up and walking over. "My son."

"Just fine, Father," Rui calmly answered while his gaze shifted to many documents scattered over his table. "You look…busy."

A wry smile appeared on his father's face as the two took their seats opposite each other. "I am the Emperor. I am never not busy."

"You should take a break," Rui offered lightly. "I wouldn't want you succumbing to a heart attack of stress or something."

"That is a rather ominous thing to say," Emperor Rael's smile was one of amusement. "If I didn't know better, I would have assumed that you were threatening me in an attempt to ascend the throne and become the true ruler of the Kandrian Empire."

Rui glowered at his words. "Don't even joke about that. After everything that I've been through as a result of the Kandrian throne, just the very thought of a second throne war makes me feel nauseous and ill. In fact, I need you to ensure that I never have to get involved again. Get to having more heirs who aren't insane. I do not want to be the Final Prince anymore."

His father chuckled at his son's words, shaking his head lightly. "Well, you might get your wish soon. I have recently forged an alliance with the Kingdom of Grahal. Soon, the first princess will be arriving in the Kandrian Empire to serve her duty as a concubine of the Emperor."

His tone was matter-of-factly.

In his eyes, he was fulfilling his duty as the Emperor of Kandria to leave behind enough progeny to ensure that there was at least one worthy heir to the throne. It wasn't something that Rui was either familiar with or comfortable with. While he didn't have any parental aspirations, he didn't want to bring children into this world without being there in their lives like they deserved.

"I have learned from my mistakes in the past," his father's tone grew soft as his eyes grew introspective. "My approach to my children was…wrong. I do not intend to make the same mistakes once more. This time, I will seek to raise my children, not potential heirs to the throne."

A sorrowful smile appeared on his face. "It took me long enough to realize this, yet it was only thanks to you and the life you lived that showed me the error in my ways. You have my gratitude for that."

Rui shook his head lightly. "…I didn't do anything. I just lived my life the way I wanted to."

"And that was enough." His father spoke thoughtfully. "Enough, yet necessary."

He shook his head lightly as he put the thought away. "Regardless, that isn't the reason that I called you here. I wanted to see how you were doing and speak with my son, of course, but also to talk about more pressing and important matters. For example…"

The air grew heavier as his father's tone grew more serious.

"The fact that our enemies now know about your ability to break Martial Artists through and the fact that they've decided to go all-out in eliminating you," Emperor Rael pulled a sheet out among the rubble of documents atop his table, putting the sheet of paper before Rui. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

It was a picture of Rui with his name atop, as well as other basic details.

At the bottom, it read in a large font:

[Dead or alive: 10,000,000,000 gold coins.]

Rui's eyes widened with shock. "This…"

"A bounty." Emperor Rael calmly informed him. "The East Panamic Treaty Alliance did not even bother hiding that they were the ones to place the bounty; if anything, they have almost publicly announced it."

Rui stared at his father as if he had just spoken a foreign language. "The what alliance?"

His father heaved a soft sigh. "Sit, I'll briefly go over everything that has happened since the battle with the Sekigahara Confederate."

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