Behind The Scenes
Hearing that Rundstedt had conspired to kill hundreds of Norlanders, Julian frowned, “It doesn’t make sense. The Marshal might have his own ideals, but he would still prioritize the overall situation. If not for the intervention from the Millennial Empire, the City of the Unsetting Sun would have fallen to the Daxdians.”
“And that was the plan,” Hasting nodded, “We wanted the city to collapse; it would have given us the entire Land of Dusk.”
“Continue.”
The soul mage pointed at the soldiers below, “We wanted them, we wanted the souls of the many powerhouses who would die in the City of the Unsetting Sun. There would be some Norlanders, but the Daxdians would lose far more people in their attack. I wasn’t relying on the city to exhaust their strength, but to get their souls. I already had a magical formation ready to collect the souls of the dead, and that battle gave me 4,000!”
Hasting then took a deep breath to calm himself down and reiterated, “Of course, most of those souls were from Daxdians.”
He gestured to a warehouse nearby, a rumble quickly spreading through the area as the door opened to two rows of soldiers marching out. There were nearly a hundred of these soldiers, all silently waiting for further orders. “These are my results. Every one has the power of a saint, obeying orders without question. They’re a powerful army. And what of our saints? How many obey orders without question? This type of troop would be more effective on the battlefields of despair than 200 saints, and there’s still a chance to reuse their souls once they are killed. The process can be repeated thrice before the soul is worn out, so the fall of the Unsetting Sun should give us 10,000 saint warriors! That is enough to conquer the Land of Dusk!”
Watching him wave his hand around forcefully, Julian looked back up with dark eyes and joked, “So you sacrificed all of the powerhouses in the City of the Unsetting Sun…”
“So what if they have to be sacrificed? We can beat the Daxdians back and conquer their plane. This is for the greater good!”
“Hmm… Was the marshal of the same opinion?”
“Rundstedt… and I had some disagreements on this. He eventually decided to fight to the end with the guards, having his soul join the plan.”
“A twisted redemption.”
“This wasn’t a sin! This was a chance for victory! They should be happy to die for the greater good!”
“Heh, but you’d never make your plan known to the public.”
Hasting paused amidst his rage, replying coldly, “Those lesser beings are lowly fellows, selfish, ignorant, and only caring about their own pathetic needs. They think that a bit of power grants them entry into the upper echelons of society, but they don’t even understand that only legends with noble bloodlines are truly great beings. The biggest value of these idiots is their souls!”
Julian chuckled, “I don’t concern myself with morality. But I’ve definitely seen what I needed to; now, what is it you need?”
The mage’s face immediately filled with delight, “I need resources that can supplement the vitality of the matriarch and the worm nests. I also need materials to implant souls into the bodies of the soldiers. You already have the list.”
Julian nodded, “I’ll convey everything to Her Majesty.”
“Thank you very much!” Hasting bowed deeply.
Julian formed a portal behind him, walking through it back to Faust, “Master Hasting, your definition of high society doesn’t include me, either.”
Hasting could only look at the disappearing silhouette with shock on his face.
……
It was about dinner time when Julian got back to the palace. He quickly changed clothes and returned to the humble and polite manager, kicking the assistant aside to serve Aperion’s dinner personally.
There were only a few plates in the feast, but together they took up a full two-thirds of the table. The main dish was roasted a dragon wing that weighed more than ten kilograms, fresh off one of the dragons that the Empress had just brought back. Apeiron listened to Julian’s report expressionlessly as she cut through the meat in her plate, fork and knife shredding through the mass quickly.
Julian finished his report about Hasting and then looked at Apeiron’s plate discreetly, seeing that the now-small chunks of meat had barely been eaten. He immediately knew that the Empress was confused and frustrated. Her gaze wandered as she asked, “Do you think we should accept?”
“Yes, we should,” he was already prepared, “Hasting has a huge power in his hand. Even if he doesn’t conquer the entire Land of Dusk, it will definitely be a blow to the Daxdians that gives us three to four fortresses and an overall advantage. This will leave a big mark on history and put you in books, placing you ahead of Emperor Philip.”
Apeiron had smirked at the mention of history books, but that faded away at the mention of Philip’s name. Growing sombre once more, she asked, “That’s it?”
“No. Hasting is very ambitious; he won’t stay put after he gets all that power. But before he conquers the Land of Dusk, we should send another person in. It will be easy to convince Rundstedt to involve himself, and a few battles will leave him dead or mortally wounded. If he somehow survives, I’ll kill him personally.“
Julian’s voice suddenly lowered, “Those two are the main culprits behind Emperor Philip’s death.”
Apeiron fell silent for a while before saying slowly, “Give Hasting what he wants. And don’t bother yourself with Rundstedt, I’ll do it personally.”
Julian flashed a wicked smile and bowed, “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
“I also don’t feel like eating!” the Empress pushed her utensils away.
Julian looked at the dragon wing, “Mm, this is quite boring. How about something from that special list?”
Apeiron sighed, her voice growing cold, “Sure.”
“Actually, Hasting is quite useful for managing to resurrect a matriarch. We don’t need to look at the broodmother anymore—”
“You’ve been thinking too far.” These words stopped Julian in the middle of his speech, evoking a shiver of fright. Apeiron then stood up and headed out of the room, “Send him tonight.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
……
As ever, Faust’s night sky shone brightly.
In a lonely courtyard on the imperial island, Nyris was looking at this scenery from his window. He hadn’t been training or even reading in recent times, cooped up inside day and night while watching the city and the stars. His mother had sent many people to check on him, but they had all been chased away. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone and just sat there alone, with no one knowing just what he was waiting for.
The soft hum of the magic lights was suddenly interrupted by a few loud knocks, abruptly pulling Nyris out of his daze. His hand trembled, sweeping a glass off the table and sending it crashing to the ground. The crystal shattered immediately, red liquid splashing all over the floor.
The prince still just sat there dumbly, trying to recover from a sudden onslaught of dizziness that arose from the sight of the blood-red wine. As the knocks rang out once more, he eventually shuddered and stood up slowly, walking out to open the door of his house.
Julian was standing outside, a creepy smile on his face that was filled with malice. Nyris immediately felt his entire body turn cold, his face going white as a sheet while the shivering grew uncontrollable.
“Please follow me, Your Highness. The Empress wishes to see you,” Julian said slowly, savouring Nyris’s reaction to every word.
“It’s so late… What is it?” Nyris asked reluctantly. However, Julian just watched him with a smile for minutes on end.
He eventually nodded, “I understand, please wait a moment.”