Tensions between Kings

As Katy brought her lips for a kiss right after, Seth surprised her by raising his head and kissing her forehead instead.

A dismayed looked appeared in Katy’s eyes for a moment, but it quickly returned to normal as she bit her lip and asked: “Do you have someone else?”

Seth sighed, moving to wrap his arms around her back. “I do, but that’s not why. There are many things I would prefer not explaining right now.”

Katy’s chest felt somewhat heavy when she heard his answer, but she didn’t say anything else and continued enjoying his body’s warmth.

When Seth released her from his hug, Katy looked sad as she stood up and said: “I’m going to eat something.”

When she was gone, a pesky question appeared in his vision.

<Why did host reject her?>

Seth sighed again and said. ‘Because she’s a simple girl that fell in love with the one that saved her. I wouldn’t mind having some simple fun with her, but that would only make her fall harder for me before I eventually break her heart.’

<And where is the problem with adding her to the harem?>

‘She fell in love with Otis, the Wrath infiltrator, not Seth, the King of Endora. Letting her love disappear alongside this identity is for the best.’

<… Host’s explanation doesn’t seem rational.>

‘Because it isn’t.’ Replied Seth and ignored any following comments from the system, focusing back on his cultivation.

Katy and the rest returned in an hour or so, and the journey resumed.

The trip inside the Wrath Kingdom went on without any issues. Seth took care of any blood race intervention that would have appeared silently, so no one bothered them.

Katy started being a bit more considerate in her actions, something every other girl noticed. She would not rest on Seth’s shoulder as much, and during the night, she would lie down on the floor to sleep with the others.

After passing the border with the Loss Kingdom in the north, the convoy’s speed increased again. Everyone knew the people in the Loss Kingdom were not the friendliest folks.

Halfway through their journey through the Loss Kingdom, the king had everyone stop in a valley for two days straight. He didn’t explain what they were waiting for, but Seth knew that the Loss king would join their group.

On the second day, another convoy approached them from the northeast. The soldiers immediately got ready for combat, and one of them went to announce the king of the sudden platoon that was coming.

The commotion made even the girls from the staff carriage walk out to check what was happening.

The king also left his tent, a clouded look in his eyes as he ordered: “Everyone back at your posts. They are not an enemy.”

After some time, a luxurious carriage stopped in front of their camp, and a middle-aged man walked out, his face smiling brightly as he looked toward the Wrath King.

“Nephew Icas, you finally decided to pay your neighbor a visit.”

King Icas also put on a forced smile, walking past his guards to approach the middle-aged man: “Uncle Theodor, nice to see you in good health.”

The two came and shared a hug before Theodor looked Icas up and down and asked with a frown: “Did you lose some weight? Did those blood fools make that much trouble for you?”

Icas’s gaze darted once toward Katy before he sighed and said: “Let’s talk about matters like that another time. Are you ready to go? We’re already behind schedule.”

“Haha, let’s go. Come and join me for a cup of wine in the meantime.” Said Theodor with a laugh before both kings ordered their convoys to travel west, and they entered Theodor’s carriage.

As the Wrath soldiers were getting everything ready for departure, a soldier came inside the staff carriage and said: “Infiltrator Otis, the King requests your presence.”

Seth opened his eyes and ignored Katy’s worried look as he followed the soldier toward the king’s carriage.

“Your Majesty, Infiltrator Otis is here.”

“Enter.”

After Seth stepped inside, he looked at the two men and bowed.

“Your Majesties.”

Theodor looked Seth up and down as Icas nodded and said: “Otis, tell my friend here what you have told me. About the blood race and the Blood Kingdom.”

Theodor listened to Seth recounting the events in the Blood Kingdom with a frown before asking: “How sure are you of all of this?”

“A hundred percent, Your Majesty.”

“Then, if the blood race has existed in the Blood Kingdom for so long, how come there was no news of mass feedings?y And why is the Oath Kingdom left untouched?” asked Theodor.

“As far as I know, the blood race was also feeding on the people of the Blood Kingdom, but their actions were a lot more subtle, and few people even noticed since people disappearing was not that big of a deal for the Blood Kingdom.”

“As for why the Oath Kingdom was left untouched, I don’t know, but it might be that they are not willing to enrage the ascended of The Academy.”

“Hmm.” Theodor lowered his head to think before saying: “That might be true, but something still feels fishy. From what I can tell, that new king you talked about might be an ascended from Oath.”

“Oath Kingdom has also been eliminating our spies lately, which might have been done to cover up this operation. After taking over the Blood Kingdom, they must have found out about the blood race, and there’s a great chance they made a deal.

“What do you mean by a deal?” asked Icas.

“I’m not sure, but since all the kingdoms pressuring Oath for their knowledge were affected by the blood plague, they might have either made a deal with or pressured the blood race into creating chaos in our kingdoms. This way, we would have other things to deal with instead of focusing on attacking them.”

“That is a possibility.” Seth added, “But there was no trace of ascended in the Blood kingdom. The new king also called himself a member of some Council and not the Oath Kingdom.”

“Council, huh?” muttered Theodore, a smile appearing at the corner of his lips, “That Lian is very shrewd. He must have used the fear some of the people in the continent have towards the Council to ensure no one would ruin his little plan.”

“Uncle, you think the Council thing was made up?” asked Icas, a trace of apprehension in his voice.

“Maybe. That’s my guess, at least. We’ll see what the others have to say at the meeting.”

Theodor then turned to give Seth a knowing look and continued: “You should give Infiltrator Otis here a reward. He had managed to accomplish what many others had failed to.”

Icas didn’t notice the look on Theodor’s face and nodded as he said a few praising words before sending Seth back to his carriage.

‘The king of loss is not as idiotic as the rest. Keep an eye on him. Also, he seems to suspect me of something. Try to figure out what.’

<Understood.>

The journey resumed, and a few more days passed, with Seth just cultivating while the girls gossiped between each other, when, after about a week and a half, he was suddenly invited to King Theodor’s carriage.

‘Do you know anything about it?’

<Negative. The king has no consultants to speak about it, and I can’t read someone’s thoughts.>

Once Seth was inside King Theodor’s carriage, the king asked him to skip the formalities and take a seat. Seth frowned but, in the end, still sat down.

The king poured two cups of wine, one for himself and one for Seth, before asking: “Does Infiltrator Otis know why I summoned you here?”

“No, Your Majesty. I am not aware of the reason.” Replied Seth.

“You said that there was no trace of ascended in the Blood Kingdom, didn’t you?”

Seth nodded confusedly, and Theodor continued: “Then, for the entire kingdom to flourish as you described in such a short time. I have once considered taking over that land, and my officials calculated that it would take a hundred years for it to grow stable, not even mentioning the loss in gold we’ll have to suffer, sustaining that place for such a long time.”

“The Loss Kingdom, as I’m sure you’re aware, has the lowest amount of land out of all the southern kingdoms, but even so, we’re still a large kingdom with plenty of resources. Even so, fixing the Blood Kingdom is not possible in such a short time, even if our entire kingdom focuses solely on it.”

“That being said, for that new king to fix the entire kingdom so fast, they had to be ascended.”

Seeing Seth about to speak, Theodor raised a hand to stop him and continued: “You might blame it on the all-mysterious Council, and it might work on fools like Icas, who are still wet behind the ears, but you can’t fool me or any other king at the meeting.”

“I know a few things about the Council and, not even mentioning their lack of interest in reigning over other kingdoms, they also don’t have the resources. The only possibility is ascended. Ascended would be able to fix the food and water problems, they would be able to quickly procure materials to build new houses and so on.”

“It still is quite spectacular the speed in which everything was changed there, but ascended are the only way that could happen.”

“So, infiltrator Otis, let me ask you something; since when have you turned against your kingdom?” as his words ended, two masked people dressed entirely in black appeared right behind Seth, their knives slowly pressing against Seth’s back.

‘Truly a troublesome individual.’ Thought Seth, his eyes turning slightly cold as he asked with a subtle smile: “Does King Icas know about your thoughts?”

Theodor frowned at Seth’s reaction and gave the two men behind Seth a look to not do anything before saying: “He does not.”

Once his words ended, Seth disappeared from the seat he was in, appearing right in front of the king, his hand stretched forward and one of the assassins’ knives pointing right at his neck.

“Then, killing you here would not really do much to ruin my plans.”

Theodor’s eyes shook at the magical display. Still, the coldness of the blade pressing against his neck made him reconsider his approach as he said: “I seem to have miscalculated Infiltrator Otis’s identity. Are you the new king of Blood?”

Seth’s smile grew wider as he nodded, his features slowly returning to normal right in front of Theodor: “You really are too smart for your own good. I almost regret having to kill someone as smart as you.”

King Theodor’s heart throbbed as he looked toward his two guards, but they seemed frozen, not showing any reaction to what was happening. With a sigh, he asked: “Is there any way where you can spare me?”

Seth looked into Theodor’s eyes for a moment and even read his aura, but all he could read was a trace of fear paired up with resignation.

Chuckling lightly, Seth teleported back into his seat, sticking the knife into the table.

“There is indeed a way, but some might say you’ll lose a lot more than your life.”