Mystical Journey

Garen made a trip to White Phoenix Forest Academy and couldn’t find his cousins, which was when he knew things had gotten bad. It was very likely that they had followed an escaping group and were planning to leave the Kingdom.

He had always tried not to interfere with his cousins’ lives, hoping they could live their lives peacefully. He tried his best to leave their lines of sight, and prevented others from finding out his relationship with them as well. After all, his villainous reputation as the Black Fire Palace Master was growing out of hand, it wasn’t a good thing to get involved with him.

Although there was no way he could truly fool the significant factions, it was still better than being completely public about it.

But he didn’t think this would be the result, his cousins misunderstanding his power and not listening to his opinions, telling them to go to the White Phoenix Forest Academy that didn’t look like much but actually had a deep and powerful background. Instead, they were convinced by Sylvia, and had left together with her distant relatives.

When Garen realized this, he immediately rushed towards the evacuation point, the large lake behind the Secret Service, and directly set up a barricade in front of the only entrance. Anyone who wanted to enter had to undergo his examination first.

After stopping several groups of people, he finally managed to stop his cousins. After some advise, Hathaway finally left the group with Dani.

Several members of the group were casually killed by Garen, so they left quietly.

Carrying little Dani, Garen rushed directly to the Kingdom’s Royal Hospital. Most of the doctors had chosen to leave with the nobles, only a few older doctors staying put. As they grew older, apparently, they began to look at some matters more openly.

In the clean white hospital room

An old doctor dressed in white took a thermometer out of little Dani’s mouth, pulling up her eyelids and mouth. Next to them, Hathaway was waiting anxiously, and asked for some details.

"She was probably shocked, her heart couldn’t take it so suddenly. She’ll be fine after a night’s rest." The old doctor finally concluded.

"Thank you, Doctor Hurley." Hathaway hurriedly thanked him.

Garen gave his thanks as well.

Hurley nodded calmly.

"I still have other patients, I’ll go for now."

"May I ask, are there many patients in the Kingdom?" Garen asked suddenly.

Hurley glanced at Garen. He knew this Black Fire Palace Master, and he didn’t just know him, he was very familiar with him, in fact. Because the Royal Hospital had to deal with too many of the people he had executed or punished.

Even though this person was powerful in court, Hurley didn’t like him.

"Why must I answer that?" He retorted stiffly.

Garen was slightly taken aback. Seeing how this old man had rushed over just now, he had thought his reputation had scared the doctor, but this was one stubborn old bag of bones.

A young green-haired nobleman next to them immediately raged.

"Damn you! How dare you speak like that to the Palace Master!?"

Clang!

The man drew the sword from his waist, and was about to attack.

Garen raised his hand to stop him. He examined the stubborn old man in front of him carefully.

"Interesting, it’s rare for someone to know my identity and still not fear me."

"I’m about to die soon anyway, why should I fear you?" The old man replied stiffly. "There are enough dead people in the Kingdom, I won’t make a difference either way."

He glanced at Hathaway.

"Alright, since it’s not a serious injury, I’ll take my leave first, there are still many patients I need to settle over there."

"Thank you, doctor." Hathaway hurriedly thanked him again.

They watched the old man leave straightaway.

Surprisingly, Garen wasn’t angry, it was rare for him to meet a normal person who had no power but wasn’t afraid of death.

"Oh, right, Big Sister, where’s your colleague?" He suddenly realized that woman was nowhere to be seen.

"She didn’t come with us." Hathaway shook her head. After all, no matter how terrible her family was over there, they had still planned to let the girls leave with them. Without knowing Garen’s identity, they were still willing to give the girls a chance. But as soon as Garen arrived and killed several of them barehanded, the relationship instantly changed.

No matter what, Sylvia couldn’t have immediately left with them. She was part of that family, after all. There were relatives who she cared for there, and relatives who cared for her.

"After this, Big Sister, you should still go to White Phoenix Forest Academy, I’ve arranged matters there." Garen frowned. "Prynne, Andel and Marin are all there, they’re all people you know. You don’t have to worry about only meeting strangers there."

"Mn…"

Hathaway was like a guilty child, lowering her head and not daring to meet Garen’s eyes.

She felt as though the situation had changed, before this she had always been the one scolding Garen at this angle, but now it was the opposite.

Before she knew it, Garen was now half a head taller than her. At first she wanted to gather her courage to retort him a little, but remembering that other awkward relationship between them, whatever courage she had immediately faltered.

"Alright, alright." Garen took her into his embrace lightly. Patting her back. "It’s okay, it’s all okay. No matter what I’ll always be here, I’ll take care of you."

His cousin’s soft body went slightly stiff as she leaned into Garen’s arms, feeling their chests plastered against each other. An intense sense of safety surged into her heart before she knew it.

"Sorry… I shouldn’t have disobeyed you." Hathaway bit her lip, and said softly.

"Before this you were taking care of me, but now it’s my turn to take care of you." Garen let go of her. Towards this cousin of his, although he didn’t feel as deeply as the Acacia from before, he could still tell that she truly cared for him.

If others treated him sincerely, he wouldn’t repay them with falseness either.

"Okay, once Dani is properly rested, I’ll have someone send you all to White Phoenix Forest Academy." Garen said softly.

Suddenly, the hospital ward door was knocked open.

Bam!

A young man dressed in white rushed into the room hurriedly.

"Garen, is Dani okay?!"

"Prynne?" Garen immediately recognized him.

"I was looking all over the outer city! But I just couldn’t find Sis Sofie! In the end it was still because you were dominant enough to block the exit point directly, so no one could leave until you found them! Impressive as usual!" As soon as Prynne saw that Hathaway and the others were there, he instantly heaved a sigh of relief, and gave Garen a huge thumbs-up.

There was also a girl with a purple-red ponytail behind him.

The girl was pretty, tall and slender, and wore figure-fitting white clothes with a waist belt.

"Marin! You came too?" Hathaway recognized the visitor as well.

"Sis Sofie, where do you all run off too? Prynne and I looked everywhere but we couldn’t find you!" Marin complained as soon as she came in.

"It was my fault…" Hathaway smiled slightly bitterly, and as though suddenly realizing how close she was to Garen, her face turned red and she pulled away imperceptibly.

Just then another girl squeezed in through the door, with flax-colored shoulder-length hair and purple-red eyes, like beautiful ambers.

"Sis Sofie!" She pounced into Hathaway’s arms in an instant.

"Andel!" Hathaway was slightly panicked, she was actually closest to Andel, back then when they left the Vanderman estate, the two of them had traveled together.

"Thank goodness you’re fine!" Andel hugged Hathaway, her eyes reddening.

Suddenly she realized that Hathaway seemed to be standing too close to Garen next to her, and instantly looked confused.

Prynne noticed too, and understanding quickly dawned on him.

"Okay, okay, the girls can catch up in the room, and chat a bit. Garen, let’s go out and talk?"

He led the way out of the ward.

Garen hinted at the two Black Fire Palace guards to follow, and went out as well.

There was a clean and tidy corridor outside the room. The two Black Fire Palace guards and the green-haired nobleman who wanted to suck up to Garen had already chased the other patients away, and everything around the room was quiet.

Prynne and Garen left a few totem user guards behind to protect the girls, before walking towards an empty hospital room on the left.

Garen noticed that a short, fat man with a huge aura had also followed beside Prynne.

Judging by this aura, this guy had to be at least Form Three and above.

He closed the door after entering the room. Garen turned around and glanced at the fatty.

"Not bad, you did well for yourself! A Form Three totem user as your guard, how extravagant!"

There were only the two of them in the room, so Garen let loose as well, and didn’t maintain his image like with outsiders.

"I still can’t compare to you." Prynne suddenly gave a dirty laugh. He went closer and asked quietly, "Hehe, Hathaway’s tits feel good, don’t they?"

Garen was instantly speechless.

"From what I see, Hathaway’s butt is pretty tight too, and there isn’t any gap between her long legs when she puts them together, so it seems you haven’t really gotten into it yet." Prynne abandoned his usual graceful mannerism, and smiled pervertedly.

"Are you saying you finished Marin?" Garen squeezed out one sentence after a long time.

"Of course, who do you think I am!" Prynne flicked the hair at his forehead, as though showing off his good looks. "But Marin still can’t compare to that cousin of yours, tsk-tsk, that small waist, those long legs, and of course that chest, and she’s also an official with the Royal Guard, that means she’s not like those totem users who never train at all and have no power, until their bodies lose their shape too. Big Sister’s figure, if clamped onto your body… Tsk-tsk…" Prynne was obviously started to fantasize.

Garen kicked his shin fiercely.

"You dare fantasize about my, Garen’s fiancee, do you have a death wish!" He scolded while laughing.

"Ow!" Prynne cried out in pain, "I just thought about it for a while, it’s not like you lost anything! I’m telling you now, back then I was planning on chasing Sis Sofie, if it weren’t for you suddenly making her your fiancee, I would probably have been on the full-on offense by now!"

"Then what about Marin?"

"Of course she’ll sleep with us! Everyone on one bed, two beauties serving me at once, ducking under the covers naked…" Prynne was starting to fantasize again.

"You seem to be living pretty comfortably recently." Garen said pointedly.

"Naturally." Prynne chucked. "Why don’t you come with me for a few days?"

"I’m busy with work, do you think everyone’s as free as you, with a grandfather up there supporting you?" Garen couldn’t help but kick him again. This fella used to be fairly serious, but now he was obviously getting more and more perverted.

"Alright, alright, on to the serious matters!" Pynne had enough of joking around, and stopped smiling as well. "I happened to bring my grandfather’s request as well on this trip here. After His Majesty passed, the situation in the Kingdom has changed. Since you have no intention of leaving either, I bet you must surely know the secret of the inner palace. Is that true?"

Garen was not surprised at all, Prynne’s grandfather Benoc was one of the Empire’s long-time peak-level fighters. Unlike the newly-risen Garen, Benoc had deep connections, countless trump cards, and naturally knew more secrets than usual.

"Your grandfather means to?"

"Our family supports the First Princess. Grand Duke Cody also intends to fight for that position, they support the Fourth Prince, probably to make him a puppet. Right now, there are four powers that can truly decide the situation in the Kingdom." Prynne said solemnly.

"Which four?"

"My grandfather Grand Duke Benoc and the First Princess are one, Grand Duke Cody and the Fourth Prince are one, together with the support of the minister Veska. And then there are the residual palace powers controlled by the Silver Palace Master, Lord Edin and yourself, as well as the last Little Alliance."

"Little Alliance? What Little Alliance?"

"The War Guild, Assassin’s Guild, Mercenary's Guild, Kovistan Merchant’s Guild, Forger’s Guild. The five groups joined together to form the Little Alliance, founded a long time ago, but never revealed until now. They represent most of the middle-lower powers in the country, and they have many important trump cards as well. Although they don’t have many peak-level fighters, but there are quite a few of high-level totem users who are willing to fight with their lives on the line. They shouldn’t be underestimated. This is exactly what my grandfather wanted me to tell you. Don’t underestimate them."

"Oh?" Garen naturally wouldn’t underestimate this Little Alliance. They call themselves the Little Alliance, but out of the five guilds, he didn’t really know much about the others, but he was also a member of the War Guild himself, so he knew a little bit insider information about the War Guild’s power. They weren’t very strong, but they weren’t by any means weak either.

The other four were at the same level as them, so they couldn’t be all that weak too.

"My grandfather and the others call the Little Alliance Five-Colored, the Five-Colored Alliance, because their official alliance flag has a mix of five colors." Prynne brought Garen information about the general state of the Kingdom.

"Now the entire Kingdom has been split into four by these four powers, out of the three districts in the Kingdom, the Palace District has been controlled by you and the Silver Palace Master. The Cloud Light District is under Duke Cody. The Trading District is under the Five-Colored Alliance and my grandfather, since it is the largest in area.

"Then the area outside the city?"

"All abandoned." Prynne shrugged. "Too many nobles ran away, their farmers and laborers, as well as their guards mostly rushed into the Kingdom, it’s too hard now to even maintain order. Once they hear that the monsters have come attacking, who would dare to go out of the city and walk into certain death?"

Garen nodded.

"What about the three departments? Anybody stayed behind?"