Chapter : 180
Chapter : 180
"I do not care about the politics between these two nations," Ken stated coldly, his words slicing through the chilly air. "I do not care who sits on the throne in this capital, and I do not care who rules in ZulFarah. But I will absolutely not allow anyone to bring that kind of mind-breaking chaos into the streets where my family lives."
Karna kept his head bowed. "What are your orders, Boss?"
Ken stared directly at the kneeling spirit. There was no hesitation in his mind. The decision was final.
"You will return to ZulFarah immediately," Ken commanded, his voice ringing with chilling, undeniable authority. "You will completely infiltrate their military command structure. You will locate every single laboratory, every single spellcaster, and every single commander involved in this Black Magic division."
Karna nodded once, his expression entirely focused. "I will find them all."
"Investigate the depth of their operation," Ken instructed mercilessly. "Find out exactly how much of this magic they have produced. And if you discover that they are making actual preparations to bring this madness across the border into our Empire..."
Ken paused. His dark eyes flashed with a dangerous, lethal promise.
"...you will not wait for my permission," Ken delivered the absolute decree. "You will eradicate them. You will completely and totally wipe their Black Magic division off the face of the earth. Burn their research to ash. Ensure that not a single piece of that madness survives. Leave nothing behind but a warning."
Karna smiled. It wasn't a warm smile; it was a sharp, professional, highly dangerous grin of a predator who had just been taken off his leash.
"It will be my absolute pleasure, Boss," Karna promised, his voice completely steady. "If they intend to bring madness to your doorstep, I will ensure they never wake up to see the sunrise. The division will be dismantled perfectly."
"Do it quietly," Ken added, his tone softening just a fraction back toward his usual self, though the cold authority remained. "I do not want this turning into a massive international incident that ends up on the morning news. Just make the problem disappear."
"Consider it done," Karna replied.
The handsome spirit stood up from his knee. He offered one final, respectful bow to his master. He took a single step backward into the shadows of the bedroom. The green light of the summoning circle did not return. Instead, Karna simply faded away, blending flawlessly into the darkness until he completely vanished from the room.
The crushing, freezing pressure in the air immediately lifted. The room returned to its normal, slightly dusty state.
Ken Eliot sat alone on the edge of his bed. He let out a long, slow breath, running both of his hands through his messy black hair.
He allowed his shoulders to slouch forward again. The terrifying presence of the Sovereign retreated, locked safely away back in the deepest part of his mind. He was just Ken again—the lazy, tired boy who desperately wanted a full night of sleep.
"Man, why is everyone in this world so obsessed with causing problems?" Ken complained quietly to himself, shaking his head. He looked over at his desk, staring at the closed economics book. "I just want to learn about crop rotation and market value. Is that really too much to ask?"
He stood up, walked over to the desk, and turned off the small reading lamp. The room went completely dark.
He shuffled back to his lumpy mattress, crawled under the thin blanket, and pulled it all the way up to his chin. He had just ordered the complete destruction of a top-secret foreign military division, but he didn't feel conflicted about it at all. He had protected his peaceful life, and he had protected the normal people of the city.
Now, he had to focus on a much more annoying, incredibly tedious problem.
Tomorrow morning, Princess Iris and the elite girls were dragging him to the Upper Council building to fill out a massive pile of official paperwork for the upcoming tournament. They had to legally register Elma as their mercenary substitute, which meant Ken was going to spend hours standing in boring, brightly lit hallways listening to politicians argue about rules.
"Paperwork is definitely worse than Black Magic," Ken mumbled lazily into his pillow, closing his sleepy eyes. "I really hope they have a snack machine in the waiting room."
Within a few minutes, the lazy boy was fast asleep, completely unbothered by the fact that he was balancing the fate of two entire nations right in the palm of his hand.
---
"Are we done yet?" Ken complained, sliding slowly down the smooth, pristine white marble wall until he was practically sitting on the shiny floor of the Upper Council building. "We have been standing in this line for three entire centuries. I am actually aging. I think I just found a gray hair on my head. Do they not believe in chairs here?"
Naomi did not yell at him. She just let out a soft, amused sigh and nudged his shoe gently with the toe of her combat boot. A small, playful smile touched the corners of her lips. She treated him exactly like a highly annoying, ridiculous friend who simply could not behave in public.
"It has been exactly twenty minutes, Ken," Naomi said, crossing her arms and shaking her red hair. "Stand up before a government guard trips over your legs. You are embarrassing us in front of the entire capital."
"I am embracing my right to be comfortable," Ken mumbled, refusing to move. He rested his chin on his knees, looking completely miserable. "Why do we have to be here in person? Can't we just mail them a letter? Or send a pigeon? I am pretty sure they use messenger pigeons in those old history books Sayma reads."
"Because adding a new member to an official tournament roster requires absolute legal verification," Sayma explained politely. She was standing a few feet away, holding a massive stack of incredibly boring government forms. She pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose, looking over the documents for the fifth time. "The Upper Council takes the rules of the Succession War very seriously. Every signature must be witnessed by a certified clerk, or we will be disqualified from our match against the 15th Prince tomorrow."
The 13th Unit was currently waiting in the longest, most tedious line in the entire Belmontia Empire. The Upper Council building was a massive, sprawling structure made of flawless white marble, filled with towering pillars and huge glass windows. It was packed with politicians, nobles, and clerks carrying towering stacks of paperwork.
Laxmi groaned, leaning her back against a pillar. She was bouncing a tiny, harmless spark of orange fire between her knuckles just out of pure boredom. "This is the absolute worst. I would rather fight a hundred giant snake monsters than stand in another line. When do we get to punch something?"