Unsealing Emptiness

403 Princess where?

Ozul had seen people carry their swords attached to either their back or their waist.

He used a bit of Purity to create a belt on his waist to hold the katana.

Meanwhile, everyone looked at him strangely. Since when did he become a swordsman?

But Ozul innately understood the subtle art of not giving a f*ck. He turned around to leave the inventory room followed by others.

As they stepped outside, they were met with the cold gaze of a man in silver armor. He was the ‘Sir Hamel’ they were introduced to just twenty minutes ago in the throne room.

“Follow me,” Sir Hamel spoke coldly before turning around, and leading them back inside the palace.

As everyone followed him quietly, Kumaou came beside Ozul and spoke lowly, “I knew you were hiding something. It turns out, you were a swordsman...”

In response, Ozul glanced at him briefly before turning his attention back to Sir Hamel. He had just picked the first thing he saw since it might raise unnecessary suspicion if he didn’t choose anything. But now the realization was dawning on him that he should’ve given it more thought before picking up the katana.

They entered the palace and after a few minutes, they entered a lush green garden. The whiff of nature invaded their senses as Sir Hamel stopped.

.....

Deep into the garden, surrounded by maids was the princess having a tea party with another girl her age.

“She is the princess that you all will now be responsible for protecting.”

From the way he stopped at the entrance, it was clear that they weren’t getting any closer to the princess than this.

“Be ready tomorrow morning, we have to escort the princess to the Duke’s estate. And you better be there on time.”

With a few more threats, Sir Hamel let them return to their room.

“Man, that was a waste of time... You think that Hamel would agree to spar with me? He is strong,” Kumaou threw his arms behind his head as he spoke loudly in Ozul’s face.

“Ask him yourself.”

Before Kumaou could say anything else, Ozul dropped onto the bed and immediately closed his eyes.

Surprisingly, Kumaou understood personal space and backed out after seeing him trying to sleep.

. . .

The next morning, they arrived at the gates where there were three overly decorated carriages lined up.

Two lines of soldiers with varying cultivation were lined up on both sides of the carriages.

On the side, they could see Sir Hamel having a conversation with one of the soldiers. That man was the one of few peak Nascent Soul cultivators in the line-up.

From a single look, one could tell that the princess sat in the middle carriage. It was not just the standard protocol, but the middle carriage even looked extra lavish.

Sir Hamel noticed their arrival and came to them to say, “The Duke’s estate isn’t far. It will take at most 30 minutes. Join those soldiers and keep an eye out for anything. If you see anything, immediately report it to me. Remember, the princess’s protection is your priority!”

His lecture ended just as soon as it started before he turned around and shouted, “Let us depart!”

‘huh??’

None complained as they joined the line-up of soldiers while Ozul lagged behind with confusion clouding his thoughts.

‘We are departing without the princess??’

Others didn’t seem to mind as they all assumed that the princess was already inside the middle carriage. However, he knew better.

The princess wore an expensive Spirit Artifact to contain her Spiritual Essence, but it couldn’t conceal anything from him. He had gauged her strength to be at the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm the moment he laid his eyes.

Even yesterday when Sir Hamel took them to the garden, he had noticed there was almost no change to her strength.

So it made no sense that he would suddenly fail to sense her Spiritual Essence much less any signs of a living breathing human inside the carriages.

‘So he wants to test us?’

There was no other explanation for it. It turned out the king still had some lingering suspicion, so he could only use such methods for immediate results.

‘Whatever... it’s not like I would have done anything anyway...’ Ozul shrugged as he began to trot along the ‘parade’.

He wanted someone else to take the blame for whatever he did to the princess. And after finding Rose and confirming that she was a spy, he also knew who that someone would be.

Why would he ruin it all by attacking the princess on the very first day?

A few minutes later, they had already passed the crowded streets and arrived at a relatively quieter area.

Just then, out of nowhere, tens of shadows left and stood atop the houses and around the street. In a matter of seconds, the carriages were surrounded by men clad in rough clothes.

What surprised Ozul and brought a grin to Kumao’s face was the fact that there were three Origin cultivators among these masked men!

‘He really cherishes his daughter...’

The king was using a total of 4 Origin Realm cultivators simply to test their loyalties. Such a force was used in wars to turn the tides of the battles, but maybe to a father’s worries, it wasn’t much.

And they weren’t given enough time to process what was happening before a fierce battle broke out between the soldiers and Ozul’s group on one side and the masked men on the other.

As if it was already decided, the three Origin Realm cultivators each confronted Ozul, Kumaou, and Sir Hemal while making feint attempts to reach the middle carriage.

Kumaou was excited to fight as he went all out and didn’t hold back.

“Finally some action!” he shouted while clashing with his opponent.

Meanwhile, Ozul didn’t use any sneak attacks to silently kill his opponent as he used to.

Instead, he opted to use some flashy moves that he had never thought of before.

‘Well, I have the perfect tool to do that,’ he thought as he slowly pulled out the katana from its sheath.

He instantly coated it with the Purity before slashing it toward his opponent in an awkward manner. Though his form couldn’t be helped; after all, it was his first time wielding a blade.

Fortunately, there was no one free enough to offer their criticism as the Purity made an arc of black aura whenever he swung the katana.

With his almost century of experience, the Purity made very fluid movements. So, it wasn’t difficult to trick other people into believing that it was a sword technique.

“Woah! He really was a swordsman!” Kumaou had stars in his eyes, anticipating a duel with Ozul in the near future.

Meanwhile, Ozul’s three companions’ looked at this scene wryly. How could they not know what he was doing?

The three looked at each other before also joining in the fray. If Ozul planned to do anything, he would have let them know beforehand. So, they also made sure to look the part of self-sacrificing soldiers for the king.

Looking at the situation, Ozul had to admit that if there was really anyone with the intention of harming the princess, they had the perfect opportunity to do so.

With such a chaotic situation where the two sides were evenly matched in strength, most people with ulterior motives would either go for the kill or maybe even flee for their lives.

Ozul could sense the hesitation rising in Rose’s body as she struggled to keep the masked assassins at bay.

He could predict that with her turbulent emotions and her cowardly nature, she might just give in and desert them.

‘And I can’t let that happen. Not when I need her,’ Ozul mentally sighed before slashing his katana in quick succession to form a cross midair that shot at his opponent just as quickly.

The battle had also gone too long and he couldn’t have Rose desert them now.

The man he was facing was as strong as Sir Hemal, but fighting with a katana had given him a false narrative that he was a swordsman.

As that man struggled to block the ‘physical manifestation’ of his slashes, four thin needles protruded out of those arcs and shot at all his limbs at the same time!

Caught off guard, the man could barely take a step back to dodge one of the needles before the other three pierced his limbs. To his horror, even the one he had managed to evade came biting his foot in the next instant.

Having foreseen that he had already lost half the battle, the man eyed the decorative carriage and rushed straight at it.

At the same time, the man fighting Kumaou did the same thing! But Kumaou wasn’t a man who would let go of a man during a fight.

And unbeknownst to these people, Ozul had seen through their staged act. So, he also played the part of earnestly trying to save the princess as he blocked his opponent with his own body covered with Purity before he could strike the carriage.

Just before they clashed again, the man stopped in his tracks as he cringed back in pain from the four holes in his limbs.

*ClapClap*

Sir Hemal could be seen clapping as everything came to a standstill. He and the person he was pretending to fight instantly eliminated the rest of the masked assassins before he appeared next to Ozul; nodding approvingly at him.

Meanwhile, Ozul looked at the dead bodies on the ground, ‘Mercenaries?’

Turning his head back to the mean, he tried his best to show genuine confusion on his face, but his stiff face could only muster up a frown.

“Haha... You must be confused, let me explain...”