Lord Of Puppets

Chapter 252 – The “peaceful” way – Part 2.

[Current location: Capital city of the Gorijy empire.]

"Mom! Mom! Common! The festival is about to start!" – said the excited child.

"Please wait a bit, Magda! You are running off again!"

"Common! Fresh skewers! We have also fresh fried mugdo meat as well! Common before it sells out!" – shouted the stall owner.

"Hey! Don’t let that idiot get drunk yet! The festival didn’t started yet!" – said pissed off adventurer as he was dragging his comrade.

The streets of the capital city were brimming with life.

People were cheering and laughing.

A festival so lively that the entire capital city was enjoy it.

Be it commoner or nobles, it was a pure party.

A joyful day.

"..."

"Man... It wasn’t that long since the war has ended.... And yet... Here we are... And the people at the top are throwing a festival." – said the humani knight with dark hair who was sitting at the restaurant with few other knights, observing from above as the streets were filled with people and stalls.

"Well, that is probably to somewhat cheer up people." – said the human knight with an eyepatch as he started already eating.

"The empire wasn’t really established that long ago and we had been cleaning up shit here and there... Honestly speaking... I think that they NEEDED to make that god damned break... My back was killing me."

"What? Are you that old already Gustav?" – asked laughing knight with dark hair.

"..."

"I was hit several times in the back with a massive trees by the ogres." – said the man wearing an eyepatch with dead serious look.

"O-oh....Shit... I forgot." – replied the knight with black hair.

"..."

"Well, he isn’t wrong." – said the young knight.

"Even though I joined recently, I pretty much understand the whole situation way more clearly, compare to when I was just regular soldier."

"Rampaging monsters, bandits and some other bastards."

"There are also rumors everywhere about neighboring nations trying to start off a war as well."

"Just pure chaos everywhere... No matter where you look."

"And yet, we are doing our job and it is working." – said the man with eyepatch as he poured himself a drink.

"Honestly speaking, the fact alone that we are somehow handling it without facing any major issues is... Confusing to say the least."

"?"

"Isn’t this good?" – asked the young knight.

"No... I mean... Yes? "- said the knight with eye patch as he stopped himself from drinking.

"Ah.... How do I explain this?"

"..."

"The situation is... Well, simple put, chaotic and we are still dealing with the chaos that is stretching all over the empire."

"The war ended extremely recently and we had obtained large amount of territory, which in turn gave rise to the empire."

"Our kingdom’s military strength was high, but it was nowhere near high enough to handle THAT much territory."

"..."

"You are talking about the Crow Watchers and these golems?" – asked the knight with a scars across his left cheek.

"Yeah... I mean, I get that they are powerful!" – said the man with eyepatch as he wasn’t sure if he wanted to drink or not his wine.

"During the war, if it wasn’t for the golem army that was made in secret... This war could had lasted for long time... Maybe even possible 5... Heck, it could even take solid 10 years."

"But still... I saw those golems in action."

"But I NEVER heard anything about that army before... Like at all."

"How long does it takes to produce that kind of army of man-made monsters? Not just large in numbers but also extremely powerful one!"

"And there are also these Crow Watchers.... An elite army that serve that new duke and the ki- I mean emperor."

"These guys are somewhat cruel... But at the same time, they are extremely effective."

"But still! Doesn’t that look... I mean, odd to you?"

"..."

"He isn’t wrong." – said the black-haired knight.

"Did by any chance the king was preparing for the war for a long time in secret?"

"Not only that.... This duke guy... He seems like a good guy on the surface, but didn’t he appeared kind of out of nowhere?"

"I get that he was a secret since he was involved with the golem project.... But still, I can’t really put my finger on him..."

"..."

"Things are moving way too fast." – said the knight with a scar.

"I mean, war after war, and then we are suddenly empire out of a blue?"

*Sigh*

"Are things supposed to be THAT fast?"

"..."

"Not only that.... There are also these neighboring kingdoms..."

"!"

"Wait, are you saying the rumors are true?" – whispered the black-haired knight.

"There is good chance that they are.... The neighboring kingdoms maybe really thinking about forming an alliance and going to the war with empire." – replied the man with a scar as he stared at his wine.

"...Fuck.... Why the hell things are not slowing down?"

"...And it isn’t just us who are feeling it." – said the man as he pointed at the people below.

"Even the regular people who are not on the frontlines are being affected by that non stop chaos... That is why they wanted to throw that festival to somewhat help out people in their mental recovery."

(On the surface, it looks like the empire is thriving... But in reality?) – thought the man with a scar.

(It is a mess.)

(Problem after problem is popping up.)

(The people still didn’t had time to adjust to the "empire".... And there are also the past wars that were happening extremely recently.... And to top it all off, there are rumors of yet another war possible happening.)

(Everybody is both mentally and physically exhausted... Honestly, if it wasn’t for these golems, we would had just died from overworking ourselves to death.)

(Hell, I even heard that the "Royal Knight Order", are also apparently being order around nonstop.)

(We were given a moment of a "break" to enjoy ourselves.... But then we will probably end up being thrown right into some tough missions once again.)

"God dammit." – said the man with the scar as he just given up and drank his entire mug in one go.

The empire was thriving... Yet at the same time, it wasn’t.

It was just like the knight realized.

The empire was formed way too quickly.

Even with the vampire support alongside the army of golems, the empire wasn’t still ready to be born.

Many people are suffering because of this sudden birth of the empire.

A toll was felt by everybody.

The current Gorijy empire was nowhere near "perfect", if anything, it had extremely many troubles because how the people who rules this empire decided to create the empire as soon as possible.

...

However, the empire was needed.

Even though its suddenly given birth to and the citizens of this new empire are suffering because of that sudden birth, the empire was still needed non the less.

If the empire wasn’t created, then this part of the continent would had been swallowed by the chaos.

And the empire wasn’t just not doing anything.

Rampaging monsters.

Hiding criminals.

The damaged lands.

The empire was dealing with all of this.

They were not standing; they were moving forward.

...

However.... Well....

Let’s just say that there ability to "move forward" was somewhat.... "Robbed"?

[Current location:???]

"...What the fuck do you mean you still couldn’t get a contact?!" – asked the man sitting on the chair.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU HAD LOST PORAI?!" – shouted the man at the sphere like object with mechanical parts.

"S-sir! We looked! But we couldn’t find anything!" – said the voice from the mechanical equipped orb A.

"The things are not looking good either... We can’t contact the communication tower in the region there.... We had been trying to establish connection for some time... But nothing." – said the voice from orb B.

"..."

"What about that Mudo?" – asked the man on the chair.

"No contact either.... Neither from the long-range communication device, nor from the golem bird." – said the voice from orb C.

"Although... If he had used the messenger bird, the communication tower should had received the message."

"But we had lost the contact with the tower in that region." – said the man on the chair.

"..."

"Okay. So, you are telling me 3 fucking things."

"First."

"We suddenly lost contact with one of our communication towers."

"Second, our one of best agents who can mind control other people and is also a master of a stealth, ended up going missing and we don’t know what happened to him."

"And third."

"Porai Kuris."

"One of the strongest vampires in the whole empire.... Suddenly went missing."

"I’m sorry... But WHAT THE HELL THIS?!" – shouted the man in anger as he couldn’t contain himself.

"How the hell does that make any sense!?"

"..."

"Maybe.... Maybe she betrayed us?" – asked the voice C.

"No! There is no way she did... Even if she did done that, she would had done it properly in much different way, instead of just disappearing." – said the man on the chair.

(Did Porai really disappeared on her own?) – thought the man.

(No.... She is getting too much from working with us.)

(...For her to suddenly go silent like this, alongside the fact that we had lost contact with one of our communication towers as well as one of our best agents.... Yeah... Something isn’t right.) – thought the nervous man.

(Should we really considering Porai betrayal as a possibility?)

(But... What she would.... No, no, no... She would had lost way too much stuff now if she were to do that.)

(She would never do that, no matter how you look at it.)

(But then again.... There is also Mudo and his mission.)

(Observe the Golem Dungeon.)

(The fact alone that we lost contact with both him and Porai... Alongside the communication tower in that region.... It can only say one thing.)

(Somebody is after the golem dungeon....)

(BUT THAT ALONE DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!)

(Porai isn’t some nobody you can take on and survive.)

(I saw her in action before.... And I know for certain that she is a beast.)

(So... What the hell is-)

As the man was analyzing the current bizarre situation, one of the mechanical communication magic devices started making some noises.

"..."

*Sigh*

The man approached the device and turned it on.

"Arthur. I’m busy right now, so don’t call-"

"NO! YOU NEED TO GET HERE RIGHT NOW! TO THE PALACE!" – shouted the man through the newly activated orb.

"..."

"What is going on?" – asked the man on the chair as he could hear the fear in the voice coming from the orb.

"S-somebody is here! And they that if I don’t contact you, they will kill the emperor!"

"PLEASE! YOU NEED TO GET HERE! NOW!"

"YOU ARE LISTENING TO ME! YOU NEED TO COME HERE! THE EMPEROR LIFE IS IN DANGER!"

"What are you talking about?! What is going on right now!?" – asked the man as he stood up.

"I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T FUCKING KNOW!" – shouted the voice from the orb.

"Some demonic looking bitch calling herself Ariava Byrawa suddenly appeared and took the emperor hostage!"

"We need you to come here!"

"..."

"..."

"HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!? HEY!" – shouted the voice from the orb.

"..."

(Excuse me.... But... Did he just said that emperor was taken hostage.... By who exactly?) – thought the panicking man.

(...Oh fuck me.... The hell is this shit?)