The king of Trad slammed his fist into the table and shouted at the head guard in anger! The head guard has to go and catch those men or else everyone here will die!
"How can you call yourself an S-class when you can't even catch some mere intruders!? My family is in this mansion so you better capture those intruders as soon as possible. Nothing can happen to them!"
The king got close to the head guard and seethes right in the man's face! The head guard nodded stiffly and he was about to leave the room but a sudden loud noise from the door stopped him in his tracks!
Bang! Bang!
Crash!!!
The king flinched as the door to the room crashed open and the body of a guard flew through and slammed into the floor of the king's office! The head guard immediately took up a defensive stance and he brought his sword forward protectively while pushing the king to stand at the back!
The head guard looked to the door and he saw three men walking in. He didn't recognize two of them but the third person was quite famous!
"Raven! You're here too!?"
The king shouted this out in shock and the head guard narrowed his eyes! Yes, the third person was Raven. But what the hell is Raven doing with these men? With the way this scene was playing out, the head guard could only assume that Raven was no longer an ally. Raven may have thrown his hat in with the enemies and he was now one of them.
When Raven didn't give the king an answer, the king started to become agitated! He took an angry step forward!
"Raven! Answer me! What is the meaning of this!? Why are you with these two men!?"
The king's shout finally made Raven stop and Raven looked the king in the eye and nodded once! This made the king take a step back in shock! He couldn't believe that Raven was here with the intruders! It was Raven that warned him about the intruders in the first place! Did Raven plan all of this from the beginning!?
Floid went past all of them and took a seat at the king's table to wait. Flood wasn't interested in their bullshit emotional nonsense. He just wanted to know if Raven would have the sense to do what he needed to do! Once Floid took a seat, the guard there turned to him with a shout!
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!? That seat is for the king only! Get off the -"
Boom!
The man didn't even finish his sentence before a massive fireball slammed into his back and incinerated his upper torso! Once the fireball died down only his legs were left standing with smoke rising from them and they just fell to the ground with a dull thud!
The king's eyes widened and he took a step back from Alucard immediately! Alucard still had an expressionless look on his face as he just dropped his smoking hand down calmly! The king perceived the smell of burnt skin spreading along the room and he almost felt like vomiting! Who the hell are these men? What did Raven bring into my fucking mansion!?
Alucard turned around and brought out a dagger that he passed to Raven. Raven was the one who would handle this final death since Floid permitted him to be responsible for this. This swine better be grateful that the demon lord has given him this honor. Alucard frowned in irritation as he saw how Raven's hands were shaking. He couldn't believe someone that managed to convince the demon lord to give him a chance was this cowardly.
"Will you take the knife or should I stab you instead?"
Raven was hesitant for a moment but he finally collected the dagger from Alucard. The dagger was heavier than Raven thought it would be. It was crafted with only metal. A gold hilt and a silver blade that shone under the afternoon sunlight, and there was no imbalance at all. The weapon was perfectly balanced in his hand. Raven really shouldn't have expected anything but perfection from Alucard's weapons.
Raven took a deep breath and nodded to Alucard and then he walked towards the king. The king was still watching the dead body with a sick look on his face, but once he saw Raven appear in front of him, he looked up in shock. His voice was a low tone that showed Raven just how confused the king was
"Raven. Hey, Raven, look at me. What the hell have you done, Raven?"
When Raven still don't answer him, the king rushed forward and grabbed Raven by the collar! His face was no longer confused, but he now had a look of fury there!
"What did you do, Raven!? What do you think you're doing with these monsters!? "
"I'm saving our kingdom,"
Raven said this gently and the king's face took on a look of confusion before it suddenly changed to shock as he felt something dig deep into his stomach. The king looked down in surprise There was a dagger in his stomach. He really should have expected something like this.
The king stumbled forward and pulled Raven close as he spoke silently.
"Protect them, Raven. My children: make sure you protect them. Promise me,"
Raven gave his word.
"I promise, Walter. If they survive this, I'll protect them,"
The king finally nodded and slid to the ground with a thud. Once the king was dead, Raven turned to Floid with a question in his eyes. 'Is this enough?'. This was the question that Raven was asking and from the look in Floid's eyes, Raven could tell that this was not enough.
Floid stood up while talking.
"Call a meeting of all the major stakeholders in Trad and tell them to bring their heirs along. Make sure they are all here or else I'll kill you and everyone that comes. I think it's time for a cleansing,"
Raven closed his eyes and took a shallow breath in. He could still feel his hands shaking from killing the king. If he had to do something like this again, he doesn't know if he will be able to keep his lunch in! No matter how you look at it, for a person,
it is very difficult to kill another person. Floid and Alucard made it look so easy, but it was fucking difficult to watch the light leave someone's eyes!
But Raven was able to hold himself back from puking by remembering that he was doing this for the sake of his family. His children and everyone else in the kingdom would be able to survive if I do this so I can't be weak now. I already started this so I have to see it through to the end.
Raven nodded to Floid and he left to do as he was told.
Doon!
There was a huge rumble that shook the entire mansion and Raven had to hold onto the chair at his side to prevent himself from falling! What the hell was that!?
Floid just smiled a little as he opened a communication circle to talk to Dragonnel.
"Are you finished with them?"
Dragonnel was in his dragon form and he was curled up on the roof of the mansion with his large wings folded behind him. Once he heard his master's message, he nodded.
[Yes, they're all frozen for eternity, master. Although I ate some of the children and women because I got hungry.]
Floid shrugged. He really didn't care about how Dragonnel decided to kill them. So long as he did.
"Good job. Stay in your dragon form if you want to. We'll leave Trad behind once I'm finished here so I don't require your assistance until then,"
Dragonnel confirmed his master's orders and he just sighed and lay back down. Dragonnel actually preferred to stay in his dragon form whenever he could and he only stays in his human form when Floid demands it from him. That is why Dragonnel was usually never inside the castle. Dragonnel was always sitting on the roof of the castle and he would only come inside when Floid summons him. Right now, Dragonnel would rather be up here than inside the mansion. And besides, I don't want to be in the same room as that stuck-up bastard Alucard.
"You haven't closed the communication circle yet, Dragonnel,"
Shit! Dragonnel quickly scrambled to close the communication circle before he could make more of a fool of himself in front of his master! Dammit, he should've checked!
Flood just scoffed as he went and sat back down in the king's chair. Floid would wait until Raven was finished calling all the stakeholders. It was time for them to have a vote.
Floid knew that the kingdom of Trad depended on the system of a majority vote to choose their king. They would usually vote for the most capable trader among all the stakeholders and that person would be elected as the king of the kingdom. It was a good system because there would never be a monopoly in the kingdom where one family tries to take all the wealth for themself. But it is also a bad system because the lack of a clear future leader will lead to a lack of trust among the people. A trader would want to trade with his allies, so whoever is chosen as a king might favor those who voted for him more than those who didn't. Everyone would want to be allies of the future king so things would get messy in the background.
Well, I can't say that it is a bad system just because of that. Every system has its flaws so I'm sure there will always be a way to go around those problems. For now, let's just focus on getting the stakeholders here.
It only took thirty minutes before Floid saw carriages arriving from the other side of the street. Floid was standing on a balcony that overlooked the entire front yard of the mansion.
All the carriages were heading straight for the mansion and Floid leaned on the balcony as he watched them. There were ten carriages for now, but Floid knew there were fifteen stakeholders. Raven was one of the stakeholders but he was already here, so that leaves four more people left to arrive.
The ten carriages arrived at the mansion at basically the same time and they all stopped right outside the gates of the mansion. They would have come inside, but the sight of the broken gate and the burning and torn-apart guards deterred them! The security that came with the ten stakeholders were immediately on guard because they thought that a dangerous enemy came to the mansion and killed everyone! But the thing that really made them stop in their tracks was the dragon!
There was a giant dragon curled up on the roof of the mansion and everyone could only stand and stare in shock! Some of the stakeholders even came down from their carriages to look at the dragon! They knew it was dangerous but the mere sight of a dragon was so awe-inspiring that they forgot all about the danger! They only knew that they had to see it!
Katherine, the woman that had a conflict with Floid in Raven's restaurant, was seated inside one of the carriages as well and she was also staring outside in shock. She was brought here by her father because she was his heir but she didn't get any information about what would be happening. All she knew was that the king himself summoned all the stakeholders from the kingdom.
As Katherine stared at the dragon, she couldn't help but remember the rumors she heard from one of her bodyguards. Katherine heard that a dragon appeared in the colosseum and killed everyone in and around the arena, but Katherine thought it was just a lie! How is it possible for a dragon to suddenly appear in Trad? Surely, they were just trying to spread false rumors!
But now that she was looking right at a dragon, can she still say that it is a lie? Where the hell did a dragon come from? There hasn't been a dragon in this world for thousands of years according to history.
"Katherine, don't space out. You're gawking,"
Katherine's father spoke in the gruff voice that he always uses when commanding those under him and Katherine instinctively stiffened and straightened up. She sat back down and stopped staring at the dragon. Katherine's father was a tall man that had white hair and a white goatee trimmed to perfection. Katherine always heard that she got her personality from her father but everyone always wondered why she and her father could never get along even though they had the same personality. Katherine knew that they couldn't get along exactly because they had the same personality.
They were both domineering people that wanted everyone else under their foot so it was obvious that they would not get along. Besides, Katherine's father was able to beat the fear of himself into her from a very young age so she never stood a chance against him.
Katherine looked out from the window again and she saw someone standing at the gate of the mansion. It was Raven and he had some blood staining his black suit. There was an intense look in his eyes that made Katherine think that there was something very wrong. What the hell happened inside the mansion?
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