Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Even though it was certain that King Garreth would win the war against Korrinth, it would have come with the cost of losing many lives especially the men in the army of Agoria.

Also King Harold would never yield even if he offered to let him go in return for his kingdom and Darlene and after winning the war, the current strength of his army would have drastically decreased and it would make Agoria slightly vulnerable to some war-loving kingdoms nearby.

However now he had a secret weapon that could end the war without any casualties on both sides and the strength of the Agorian army would double after they join Korrinth's army with them. Because even if King Harold win the war by a chance, it would be only a short time victory before the wrath of Redland Academy bring the wrath upon his kingdom and King Garreth was sure that King Harold would choose to surrender when he sees King Garreth's ultimate weapon, Jowan's great master friend.

Of course, King Garreth had to offer to let King Harold and his family alive if he wanted to end this without bloodshed and then, Darlene would have no choice but to marry Prince Jowan, he would get two kingdoms and the Azrite mine so in the end, everyone would be happy except for Darlene's lover Don.

Despite the fact that Don could be said as the person who led King Garreth to this point, Prince Jowan had to kill him to set an example and to make sure that he would never try to see Darlene again behind Jowan's back.

"Jowan"

King Garreth's shout brought Jowan back from his excitement and shock as he cheerfully nodded his head like a joyful child 

"Father, I will ask him and bring him here later"

"You go and do that"

King Garreth said and dismissed Jowan as he walked away hurriedly from the throne hall to meet with his friend and King Garreth stood from his throne to go to meet with his general to prepare for the pre-war tasks.

*************************************

By the time King Garreth had finished some tasks and planned the strategies for the upcoming war with his general, the sun was already dipping behind the horizon but the daylight still lingered in the air.

King Garreth didn't pay much attention to the beautiful setting sun as he was overlooking the Agorian army before him from a stage.

The advance guard of the Agoria was standing still before King Harold, a troop of spearmen. They were dressed in a striped hose of black and red, helms covering their faces as forming a 'T' shape. Their spear staves were painted with crimson red and fastened with shiny nails and decorated with gold tassels. The round shield on their made of top-quality wood to withstand the strikes from a heavy sword or ax to an extent and Agoria's logo, the raging bull with their motto was painted on the shield and woven on their chest in golden thread.

Beside the spearmen stood the cavalry. The cavalrymen had little more armor than the spearmen as their upper body and head were covered in steel chain mails and plates while the horses had nothing but fancy saddles.

Between the cavalry and the infantry were the archers. Unlike the units beside them, the archers didn't wear steel armors but wore light flexible leather armor.

And because of the number of mercenaries King Garreth hired, the total troops count almost reached eight hundred and most of the mercenaries were at the master level so the force before his would be a force to reckon with in the battlefield.

"Since Emir's army is gone our victory is guaranteed, your majesty"

King Garreth heard his general, an old man who looked like he's in his seventies. Even though the old man was just a peak level master and stopped cultivating, he had enough battle experience which King Garreth's father and King Garreth valued to compensate for his lack of cultivation level.

Since Korrinth's army was only two hundred or so men, King Garreth had absolute confidence in his force. And thinking about the troop count of Korrinth, King Garreth was glad to spend the enormous sum of gold coins on those four mercenaries who successfully eliminated Emir's army in one night without even them knowing what just hit them.

**************************************

"Now you can kill that Prince and be done with this marriage, Princess"

Darlene came to meet Don after he and her father had a fallout and currently she was trying to make Don stay in Korrinth and face the Agorians with them.

However, her real motive was to get Glacia so they could have another great master on their side if Glacia survived the explosion that is, yet Darlene had to try.

"I can defeat him anytime, King Don but it's not going to be duel"

"I can't do anything now, it's up to you Princess because you started this"

Hearing Don, Darlene frowned as she wanted to slice the puny king before her in half but she still needed some help to defend her kingdom in case they went back on their word and Darlene would always like to have a backup plan.

The initial deal they made with Darlene was bringing Don into her kingdom as her lover and in return, they would assist her in the core disciple selection in Cold Moon Palace when the time comes. With her experience of dealing with that mysterious person, she could guess that they are looking for someone and Don is likely a suspect.

If Don was indeed the one they are searching for, Darlene was sure that they would honor the deal they made and she could even ask for their help in defending Korrinth but what if he wasn't? Or what if they wanted more time to confirm their suspicion.

When they mentioned the core disciple selection, Darlene made the deal with them without any second thoughts. At that moment, she didn't think that the Agorians would actually declare war with them and make an enemy out of Darlene who had the chance to be an inner disciple of Cold Moon Palace.

However, something made King Garreth do the exact opposite of what she had thought and what was more surprising was she never imagined that Emir's army would be so weak to get destroyed overnight which led to this dire situation.

Even though Darlene saw Don's face when he said this, she could see in his eyes that he's lying and she guessed he had something that could help them. At the moment Darlene's options were to wait for the mysterious person to help her with the war or since she knew Don was lying she could make him help her defend the kingdom and the last option, escape the kingdom and came back to Korrinth as an inner disciple and demand King Garreth to give up her Kingdom back.

In all the three options, the first one and third one had so many variables but the second option had no major drawbacks or variables. If Don had something that could help her, she would use him. And then after the war, she would either kill him or do whatever she thinks at the moment.

"Lying is not your strong suit, Don"

She could read his expression like a book as she thought.

"Yes you can King Don, I will do anything if you help me"

As she said, she leaned closer to Don and he could feel her warm breath closer to his chest while her rose fragrance entered through his nostrils and sent a bolt to his brain.

Arrora had a nauseous feeling when she saw the Princess trying to seduce Don as the Princess wrapped her hands around Don's neck.

"Pri..."

And before DOn could open his mouth, Darlene put her finger on his lips as she stood up on her toes to reach Don's cheek and kissed him on the cheek which made Arrora's eyes almost bulge out of the sockets as she wanted to punch the Princess in the face so hard.

"Tell me, will you be my knight in shining armor?"

Arrora could barely hear Darlene's husky voice and saw Don nodding his head like an obedient child.

"Don't worry Princess, I won't let anything happens to you or this kingdom "

When Darlene took a step back from Don, her face turned into rosy red and quickly walked away from the room without looking back leaving Don and Arrora.

"There's a"

Arrora was pointing at him at making some signs in the air with a frown on her face

"What?"

"You have something on your face"

She was still frowning while pointing at Don's face as he touched the cheek Darlene kissed.

Taking his hand from his cheek, Don saw the red stains on it and realized that Arrora was pointing at the lips mark on his face

"Hmm, that's how it feels when a princess kisses you huh?"

"What did you say? What the hell Don"

Arrora became even more furious when she saw Don's reaction like he actually enjoyed the kiss

"What? It felt good"

He said and started to walk towards the door and while he was walking, Don knew it would annoy the hell out of Arrora what just he said.

And what Don said for kidding really did make Arrora furious as she wanted to punch him in the face instead.