Emperor's Reckoning

Hilde excused herself after hearing their side of the rumors.

"Thank you, kind sirs."

She put up a smile before leaving them. 

As she resumed her stroll in the city, she contemplated. 

"Hezar, that man is nothing but a bother," muttered Hilde. "I need to gain more information on this."

She walked from one place to another, scrabbing any little detail that she could find from the cultivators. However, after a few minutes, she let out a sigh. "They shared the same insight."

"Hey look!"

"Huh?"

She raised her head before noticing the others were moving toward the gate of Afurnae. She furrowed her eyebrows before she followed them.

"It's the golden carriage!"

"Young Noble Focrei!"

"It's' Young Noble Focrei!"

(Focrei) She furrowed her eyebrows. 

The curtain of the window was opened as a handsome man with his golden hair covering one eye waved at the onlookers. His face brought about the bearing of nobility and the cheers from the people basked his charisma to a new height.

"Focrei, do you really need to do that?" 

Focrei didn't turn his head to the man sitting right across from him. "This is what being a noble is all about. I believe I can spare time for my beloved fans."

"This time will be your second attempt at the tournament, please take it more seriously. You did lose to Ivy last time."

The curtain was pulled to cover the windows before the nobility that he showed was lost. He was glaring at the figure in front of him as he muttered, "Don't you dare speak that name in front of me!"

"Oh? What are you going to do?" sneered the man.

"Kh!" Focrei fended his glare away as he crossed his arms. "That woman will participate once more, this time I will humiliate her."

"Don't be a sore loser Focrei, your weakness shows."

"Hahaha!" The man laughed inside the carriage, "Don't worry, with you under my wings I can assure you that you can have the first seat. Everyone already knew that I was training you, there is no need to hide it. Oh?"

The man abruptly stopped his smile before he peeked through the curtain. He had a smirk on his face as he said, "Look's like someone is prying to sense me."

Hilde kept her cool even though she saw the man was seeing her eye to eye. She didn't act out, not even her pupils showed any difference in size as the gaze met each other.

The golden carriage carried on as the onlookers watched it past them by.

"Hmm..." Hilde stepped off from the crowd and resumed her strolling. "The rumor is true then, Folcre is being trained by Cedric."

"The system is indeed flawed," Hilde let out a sigh. "The top ten from the last tournament won't give out their powers that easily to the new champions. Folcre will become nothing but Cedric's puppet."

"Look it's the siblings!"

Another prominent figure made its way inside Afurnae. 

Hilde looked over and saw the carriage coming in.

"Miss Felicia is as beautiful as always!"

"Young noble Altre!"

Hilde shook her head. "All these people are cheering for them but they didn't know that these psychopaths loved to torture the Mortal cultivators. Tch! Seeing their fake smile makes me want to puke, were it not for their father knowing mine, I would have killed them already."

Unlike Folcre, the siblings stuck their heads out and waved at them with a smile. Their father was sitting across them with his hands crossed and a smile on his face.

After the charade, the siblings pulled their heads inside the carriage. Altre had his hands trembling as he showed a wicked smile. There was quite some degeneracy as the thought of fighting the Mortal cultivator flashed his mind.

"Brother," Felicia smiled. "There is no need to get agitated, the chances will come, I'm sure they will be returning too."

"Ah yes, Porealus, Ivy, and Zet. They are from the so-called the Great Families in the Mortal World..." as he finished his words, his eyebrows furrowed. There was a flash of a man standing with a smirk on his face that appeared inside his mind.

He was the actual ruler of Treas, he had manipulated the place since he got it from his father. However, they didn't rule for long before a certain figure appeared and destroyed his prestige. His father had warned him about hidden experts in the Mortal World but he never thought that it would be someone that young. To think that an offending matter would escalate to the destruction of Treas under his rule still made him fuming.

"I hope he rots!" said Altre.

Felicia looked at her brother before nodding, "I'm sure that he is rotting right now."

"Forget about the Mortal World, they are nothing but a side hobby of mine," said the father before he furrowed his eyebrows. "That's weird, the captain went missing along with his subordinates. I thought he was having the usual leave but this is too long even for him. Does he forget who rules over him?"

He buried his fingers to his palm to a crackle in his knuckle. The fuming rage was apparent on his face as the carriage left toward their designated inn.

Hilde let out a sigh, "This is quite—"

"IS THAT?!"

"THAT CARRIAGE!"

"IT'S THE NUMBER ONE!"

"What?" Hilde opened her eyes wide before she followed the others and joined as the onlookers.

"Rupert!"

"It's Prince Rupert!"

An insignia of a golden dragon flashed by. The carriage didn't have a roof covering the people inside and they could see the handsomeness of the prince. He had a slender figure with a pair of swords on the sides of his waist. He had the confidence that could deter everyone and the iconic short golden hair was shimmering under the bright sun. He stood with his arms crossed and his golden vertical-slit pupils gazed forward.

The bask of glory from the onlookers was a matter of course as his compelling prestige struck high. He had a proud smile on his face but the noble festive atmosphere crashed down the moment...

*Neigh!