What happened was a shock to every single Empire and Kingdom in the central region of the Westnia continent. The first few people that got the news were the Emperors of the rivaling Empires.
Everyone regardless of who they were, whether it was the Duke or the commander or the Emperor was shocked to hearing that the Ethereal empire had failed to protect the lives of the citizen and had lost more than 1.5 million people in a single night.
The first move that the rivaling Empires make after hearing this news was to add more soldiers to their border.
While the ordinary citizen had no idea how terrifying the mutant fire ants were, the Emperors and the nobles had a deeper understanding of the whole situation and knew what danger the mutant fire ant had. Everyone became wary of the Heavenly Hemlock Forest. Adventures stopped from entering the Heavenly Hemlock Forest fearing that they meet the mutant fire ant and will get killed.
The news had become a hot topic. Someone ignorant fools were going as far as to claim that 1.5 million died because of Ethereal Empire's negligence. If the empire had put more troops to protect Blackwood city, then this incident wouldn't have happened. Some even went far as to say that the Emperor and the Ethereal Empire did not care much about the citizens of their Empire. Overall, when the news spread throughout the Ethereal Empire, The Emperor's reputation took a great hit.
Ronnie wasn't stressed about these kinds of things. Right now he had other important things to do. Like locating where the mutant fire ant queen was hiding. After Ronnie learned how strong the Mutant fire was from Noah and Aditya's reports, he also sent two 5th-order elders to Rose hills city.
"These days everything is going wrong with the Ethereal Empire." Spoke a man who was wearing a butler outfit. The man who was dressed as a butler was around 5 feet 8 inches tall. The man was pale messy green hair covering his forehead and his left eye. The fair-skinned man had black pupils and long ears. The most noticeable thing about him was the scar over his left eye.
"Ivan, what made you say such words?" The question was asked by Ivan's master. Ivan was the name of the young elf-man in a butler outfit. His master was a beautiful young lady with blond hair that she had tied in a ponytail.
Ivan's master was a young lady in her twenties. Her name was Kyra Ross. Kyra was 5 feet 6 inches tall. She was only 2 inches smaller than Ivan. Kyra had golden pupils. The most noticeable thing about Kyra was the mole located at the center of her forehead; right between her eyebrows.
Kyra was the young lady of the Rose Family. The Rose Family was one of the noble families in the Ethereal Empire. Kyra was the third princess of the Rose Family.
The Rose family was made in charge of governing Rose Hills city by Ronnie's grandfather. Kyra could live a luxurious life but she refused to do it. She instead opened her own restaurant with the money that she had saved up. She opened her own small business and has been living independently.
The girl's dream was to live independently. Fortunately, it was not difficult for Kyra to fulfill her dream. Her parents were very open-minded and supportive. The only condition that Kyra had to follow was that she was not allowed to set up her shop in other cities. She was allowed live in any part of the city using a fake identity. If she wanted to go out and travel to another city, she has to let her father know about it and take some guards with her for her safety.
"A week ago some thieves attacked one of our neighboring shops. A few days, someone died from a heart attack right in front of our shop. If all these crazy events weren't enough, on top of that, one of the corrupted officials r**ped many women. My lady, don't you feel strange that suddenly out of nowhere without any warning, blackwood city was attacked by Mutant fire ants? What's more strange these ants are not just some normal ants. Now the big incident with blackwood city. All these incidents are making me feel that the Ethereal Empire is no longer a safe place to live." Ivan explained why he said that everything is going wrong with the Ethereal Empire.
Kyra did not answer. Ivan's words also forced her to think. When she carefully thought about all these incidents have happened over the period of just one week. Now the whole city was closed to outsiders. The city was now being protected by one million troops and two fifth-order cultivators.
"Now that the whole city has been closed to outsiders, our and many other people's business has been affected. I don't see any reason on why we need to keep the city closed to outsiders. It's not like a virus is going to spread if we don't keep the outsiders from entering the city."
Ivan looked outside. Through the transparent glass window, he looked at the street which was currently covered in white snow. Right now the sky had turned dark and snow had begun to fall from the sky. "My lady, I can't help but feel that the Emperor has made a wrong choice. There was no need to shut down the Rose Hills city to outsiders." Ivan's tone was filled with anger and mockery.
Sigh!
Kyra sighed as she also looked outside. The 3rd-princess of the Rose family cannot deny what her servant was saying is very true. Even Kyra felt that the Emperor shouldn't have shut down the city. Now it felt like they were trapped in this city. If Kyra wasn't a noble, she would not be allowed to use the teleportation array to exit the city.
"Ivan, I understand your anger but please don't say these words in front of other people. If your words reach the ear of one of the soldiers you will be publicly executed." Kyra did not want to see that happening.
Ivan lowered his head as he clenched his fists in anger. "I understand."
Kyra sighed once again. She knew that Ivan never liked the Ethereal Empire or the Emperor. He always has shown his hatred for the Empire. Ever since the day Kyra bought Ivan from the slave market which happened 7 years ago, Kyra has seen Ivan hold anger towards the Empire and the Emperor.
If it was someone else in Kyra's position, that person would have sold Ivan back or would have killed him for saying things against the Empire and the Emperor. But Kyra was different. Despite being a noble, she never has looked down on others. She never treated any person with mockery. Kyra was very kind and caring toward her slaves.
Ding!
"Oh...It looks like we have a new customer." Kyra and Ivan's eyes fell on a long blue-haired young man who just entered in their restaurant and then began closing the umbrella while dusting off the snow outside the restaurant.
"Welcome to Roseberry Restaurant." Kyra welcomed their first customer of the day. Since it was snowing outside and the city was closed to outsiders, the number of customers that Kyra received every day decreased a lot. It was already 9 in the morning and Aditya was their first customer. Normally usually in this time, their restaurant would be full of customers.
Aditya looked at the blond-haired beautiful-looking receptionist for a second before walking to sit on one of the chairs. Aditya sees beauties like Alicia, Julia, and Amber, almost every single day in his regular life, Aditya had gotten used to seeing beautiful girls.
"Good morning sir. What would you like to have today?" Ivan elegantly walked up to Aditya with a menu.
"Just give me a cup of coffee and strawberry cake." After having breakfast, Alicia and Aditya went back to the capital. Both of them agreed to spend some time in Rose Hills city today. There were two main reasons why Aditya and Alicia decided to come to this city. The first reason was that in Alicia's parent's eyes, both of them were going on a date. And the second reason was if the mutant fire ants did attack Rose Hills city, then Aditya can provide his assistance. When Alicia and Aditya came to this city, she went to meet a friend of hers. Her friend was the guild master of the White Lotus guild branch.
Meanwhile, Kyra looked a little surprised. This was the first time a man hasn't looked at her for more than one second. Ever since the day she opened her restaurant and had started to work as the receptionist, every day she meet countless men, whether they were young or old, all stared at Kyra for at least a few seconds. Some virgin single men even repeatedly came to her restaurant just to get the chance to see her every single day.
There were very few men who can resist her charm. When Kyra focused on Aditya, she was again surprised to find that this handsome and young-looking man had a beginner 3rd-order cultivation base. 'He is so young yet his cultivation is already in 3rd-order.'
"Alright." After taking his order, Ivan went to the kitchen to tell the chefs to prepare Aditya a cup of coffee and take out the strawberry cake.
Aditya was sitting next to the window. When he entered the restaurant, he found that the whole restaurant was empty.
Right now Aditya had put his right elbow on the table and was supporting his chin with his right palm while looking outside. The street was empty. Most people stayed inside their houses as it was snowing. Aditya did not feel any cold mainly because of his bloodline. The only reason he was wearing a coat in the first place is that the coat looked very cool.
While looking outside, Aditya found that female receptionist staring at him. 'This woman and the waiter are not simple. She has a cultivation base of Mid 2nd-order. And the waiter has a cultivation base of Peak 3rd-order.'
"Do I have something on my face?" Aditya asked as he couldn't handle her stare anymore.
"No...no" Kyra felt panicked when she was caught staring at her customer.
"I apologize if my stare has made you feel uncomfortable. By any chance are you working as an adventurer?"
"No, I don't work for the guild." From Aditya's tone, it looked like he wasn't interested in answering Kyra anything about his profession.
"I wonder, what do you think of the incident that took place in Blackwood city?" Kyra wanted to know her customer's opinion on the matter. She wanted to know if the people were with the Emperor or against the Emperor.
At the same time, Ivan also returned with Aditya's order. The elf managed to hear the question that his master had asked Aditya.
"Here is your order sir."
"I think the whole incident was quite sad. The mutant fire ants need to be wiped out before another similar type of incident takes place." Aditya felt that Kyra and this waiter's identities is not simple as it seems. As for why would two powerful cultivators like them work in a restaurant, Aditya had no idea.
"What if the Ethereal Empire cannot stop another mutant fire ant from attacking another city?" Aditya instantly frowned hearing the waiter's words. He looked at Ivan who was standing 2 meters away from him. Both men stared at each other in silence.
"The whole Empire has been alerted, nothing like the blackwood city incident would happen." Aditya felt that Ivan's reaction was odd. While Kyra felt that Ivan was acting a little strange.
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