[For some Kings, their reputation is everything. The Zulux Dynasty King happens to be a person who cares about his reputation. Because of his ego, he failed to see that he was falling for my trap.] From that day when Aditya had the nightmare in which all the people close to time were killed by the Zulux Dynasty, Aditya had a deep hate for the Zulux King.
From the letter that Zayne sent, Aditya knew that the Prime Minister was going to come on that exact day. Everything went according to his plan. By giving the excuse of food shortage, Aditya further provoked the King by expanding their borders and building the port city.
[Genius! Your Majesty, this old man is starting to feel his blood boil in excitement. Eventually, both Kingdoms will clash at our borders. This situation is like if I am going to die, I am going to drag others with me.]
[Haha! Except that I don’t have any plans of dying yet. There is a quote that once was said by a great general named Sun Tzu.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you can win hundred battles without a single loss.”]
[Your Majesty, now I am almost starting to feel sorry for Duke Ryan. He died without knowing that he was used as bait.]
[There is another saying by Sun Tzu. “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.” By spreading the false news of a 3rd-order cultivator in the Istarin Military, we made both Kingdoms panic. For now, everything is under our control. But I doubt the enemy will dance in our palms for a long time.]
[Yes, we will have to think of an alternative.]
[Luckily for us, we already have an alternative. I am going to meet them in Silver Meadow Grove.]
[I am sure that the Nepoca Kingdom will ask for a tribute for their alliance. They will say that in exchange for protecting your Kingdom, we want tributes to be paid every year. But don’t worry, paying tribute will only last for a short period.]
[I trust your Majesty. With you, we have nothing to fear.] After that Aditya ordered the Dukes to increase the recruitment of soldiers. After another 5 minutes of discussion, the meeting finally ended.
“If my plan works out, by the time when this war will end, the Istarin Kingdom would become a 4th-tier if not a 5th-tier Empire.” After flying for 10 hours straight, Aditya finally reached his destination. Currently, Aditya was in front of a huge mountain valley.
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“So this is the Everlasting Highlands.” Everything here was covered in a layer of greenery. The Everlasting Highlands was a place in the Silver Meadow Grove. In the middle of the Everlasting Highlands, there was a huge mountain valley where the demon race people lived.
It was said that a long time ago the demon race invaded the world. They had managed to take over the Dying Isle Continent along with 2 other continents that were near the Dying Isle continent. At that time, the entire world was said to have bathed in chaos. The invasion of a foreign race had bought all the races in this world together.
With the combined power of all races, the demon race was pushed back to their world after 90 years of conflict. But in that 90 years, many demon race people had settled down in their conquered areas. Even when the Demon race left, those demons never left this world. Just like how the Beast had several subraces like Lion men and Fox men, the demon race also had variations of subraces.
Today Succubus is one of the most famous races in this world. But before the demon race invaded, there was no Succubus in this world. Succubus, Majin, Devils, Wicked Orcs, goblins, Vampires, Hargraves, fallen angels, Stone Minotaurs, Gilded Trolls, Treants, and Snow Goliaths were some examples of Demon races. Over time the people of this world have come to accept the Demon races, though other than the Devils, Fallen Angels, Vampires, and Succubus races, all other Demonic races are hated, discriminated and used as slaves.
For this reason, many demon races live in the forest, away from civilization. The only reason why the Succubus race become this popular was because of their power of lust. It is said that the Succubus race found its place in prostitute centers. However, with time, nowadays only the lower class Succubus work in prostitute centers. While the rich Succubus families settled down in various Kingdoms across the whole world and become powerful nobles. The same could be said for Vampires, Devils, and Fallen Angels.
Vampires, Devils, and Fallen Angels had extraordinary power almost comparable to elves and Dragons. Even in the Demon Race, the Vampire, Devils, and Fallen Angels races were always at the top. Unlike the Succubus race, the Vampire, Devils, and Fallen Angels joined themselves with small Kingdoms and later they even managed to establish their kingdom.
After the Vampire, Devils, Fallen Angels, and the Succubus, there is the Majin race. Unlike the other 4 races, their number was very less. The Majin race chose to live in forests. The Everlasting Highlands was one of their homes. And Aditya was here to meet them.
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Aditya could see a village in the center of the valley. According to what Aditya heard, the Majins that live here don’t like to communicate or work with other races. Once or twice a year, they would go out to Zraka city with herbs, rare alchemy ingredients, and dead bodies of magical beasts and exchange them for weapons, clothes, salts, and farming tools.
“I hope they would at least hear what I have to say.” Aditya slowly landed in front of the Majin Village.
The entire village was fortified by 3 meters tall stone walls. The houses were built with wood.
“Stop!” The entrance was guarded by two Majins. Aditya did what they told him to do. He stopped moving and raised his arms in the air to show that he wasn’t here to harm them.
“What do you want outsider?” The two Majins for a moment looked confused seeing Aditya’s red wings. Staying in the same place for generations has limited their knowledge of the world. Most of them didn’t know what Aditya’s race was.
“I am here to talk with your leader.” In every Majin race, people had either one or two horns on their foreheads. The guards had two black horns on their foreheads. Generally, the color of their horns is the same as the color of their hair.
“Talk with our leader? I am sorry but we simply can’t allow a strange to meet our leader. If you have any message for our leader, we will give it to the village leader.” Both Majin guards simply didn’t trust Aditya enough to take him inside their village.
“Why don’t I introduce myself. I am the King of Istarin Kingdom. Today I came here to meet the leader of your village.”
Both Majin guards looked at each other for a second as if deciding who was going to inform the leader.
“You wait here. I will inform our leader.” Aditya was not offended by the attitude of the Majins. They didn’t even know him. He patiently waited at the entrance for 10 minutes, before the black-haired Majin guard returned.
“You can come with me. But remember, if you do anything suspicious we won’t hesitate to attack you.” Aditya nodded and followed the Majin guard.
While walking in the villain, Aditya could see many small Majin children with a cute little horn growing on their forehead curiously looking at him. The children were not allowed to go out. So seeing an outsider, their curious nature kicked in.
Seeing the children looking at him, Aditya gently smiled and slightly waved his wings. Just as the children were about to walk toward Aditya to touch his wings that attracted their attention, the children’s mothers came and took them away.
‘I wonder why everyone is so offensive towards outsiders? Did Duke Ryan do something to this village or what?’ After walking for 3 minutes, they stopped in front of a house that was 4 times larger than a normal wooden house.
“This is the house of the village leader.” The interior of the house was built more like traditional Japanese houses.
Knock! Knock!
“Come in”
After opening the door, the Majin guard signaled Aditya to go in. Walking inside the room, the first thing that attracted his attention was the old man who was sitting on the floor. The old man was wearing a black Kimono. He had a black horn on the left part of his forehead.
“Welcome to the village of Watford. Why don’t you sit down so that we can talk?” Aditya nodded and sat opposite the old man. Between them, there was a low coffee table.
“Why don’t we start from the introduction part. My name is Aditya. I am the King of Istarin Kingdom.”
——-
[Bonus Chapter 1]