611 Chapter 611:- A New Dawn for the Istarin Empire
"Are you perhaps looking for the blackwood?" Aditya asked with a smile. Their reaction said everything. "Just tell us everything that you know. At most, you will be put to prison for a few decades for your crimes. But at least your lives will be spared. But if you don't talk.....!" Aditya didn't need to say more. His eyes turned red while the shape of his pupil changed to vertical slits. Others fearfully took a few steps back but the leader remained in her position. Aditya was actually being kind. In a normal situation, these people would have died in his hands. But he was offering them a chance to live and seek redemption. Other than the leaders, others were actually considering Aditya's offer. They felt that it wouldn't be bad to be imprisoned for a few decades rather than lose their lives. Seeing Aditya first, she was afraid. But now her expression had changed to being stoic and cold. The next second, she did something that even her subordinates hadn't expected her to do. "I am sorry but this is where we all part ways. Farewell.....!!!!" Before they all could understand what their leader meant by that, she suddenly took out a sword and stabbed herself in the heat. Seeing this everyone was quite shocked. Even Aditya was surprised. He hadn't expected this woman to be so devoted that rather than falling into the hands of the enemy she would rather take her own life. "Riya, capture them.....!!!!" Since the leader had died, Aditya had a feeling that they wouldn't get much of any information out of these people. He was very disappointed. Crack.....!!!!
Suddenly the ground cracked. Large and small cracks started appearing all over the ground. Dark green tentacles came out of the ground through these cracks and wrapped around the remaining members of this group. They also did not put in much of a fight since they knew fighting would only get them killed. By surrendering they could at least save their lives. Aditya stepped forward and asked. "What do you all know about this blackwood? I want to know everything." Aditya was quite serious. Although they were afraid of Aditya, since the Dragon Monarch himself had assured them that he wasn't going to kill them today, they did not hold back any information.
"Your Majesty, what we do know is, that The Lionrock City isn't the only city that is affected by this curse," Selina said in a fearful tone. Meanwhile, Riya controlled some other dark green tentacles to wrap around the dead body of the leader. Once her whole body was covered by the dark green tentacles, her dead body was simply dragged inside the ground through one of the large cracks. Riya buried her body more than a few hundred meters deep in the ground. "Which other cities are affected by this curse?" Aditya asked. "We know that in the central region, other than the Lionrock city, 9 other cities are also cursed."
"Whose orders you all were following?" "We don't know....!!!" Selina fearfully replied. Suddenly the dark green tentacles tightened around their bodies. "You better speak the truth otherwise, I don't mind burying your corpses along with your leader's corpse," Riya said in a cold tone. Usually, she isn't the type to do this kind of thing. These kinds of things are better suited for Sasha or Lilith. But being the Goddess of Nature and knowing how evil these backwoods are, Riya was very angry. She wanted to reach the bottom of this matter as soon as possible. "I swear on my mother's name, I don't know anything...!!!!" Biku cried out in pain. Seeing that they weren't lying, Riya snorted before slightly loosening the tentacles. Hmph....!!!!
As she did that, they were able to breathe a little better than before. Although the tentacles were still tight, it wasn't as unbearable as before. "Our leader is really mysterious. She is the one who recruited her into this team. She also provided us with cultivation resources to cultivate and get stronger. Anyone who does not follow her orders will be killed instantly. This is just what our Leader always has been." Biku said. "Every month, our leader would mysteriously disappear for a few days and would return with a new mission. For the last few months, our mission has been to spread this curse in all the cities. Before our missions used to be spying, gathering information, or assassinating someone. Our mission always has been inside the central region. We never went beyond the central region." "Our job has been to bury the mysterious blackwood thing in each city and then wait for a few months before going back to that city to take the blackwood. Our leader used to call this process Harvesting." Aditya has been totally silent. 'They don't know much about the culprit or the people above them. In the end, we did not learn anything about the culprit.' Aditya thought while rubbing his chin. Although these 9 days weren't a total waste since he was busy with another production thing, the girls were definitely bored. Riya was the most disappointed. If she knew things were going to be like this, then she would have captured the leader first. She felt that this was a mistake on her part. "Now that your leader is dead. Who is going to harvest the remaining 8 backwoods?" Aditya asked. "We don't know. This used to be our job. But now with the death of the leader, I don't know who is going to harvest the remaining 8 backwoods." Hearing this Aditya inwardly sighed. He felt that the above people who were pulling the strings and doing all of this were just too cautious. They were not leaving any trials behind. "Alright, name the leader 8 cities?" Aditya asked. At least they could try going to these 8 cities and get the blackwood before the culprit could. -
"Your Majesty...!!!!" Helen greeted Aditya. She saw a group of people being dragged away by the soldiers. The soldiers took them to the teleportation array and simply disappeared once the array activated. They are going to prison. For now, he hadn't decided how long he was going to keep them in prison. Once Aditya returns to the Istarin Empire, he will decide their fate. 'In the future, I must make a giant flying prison.' Aditya had this idea of seeing the prisoners being taken away. Essentially the giant flying prison will be built on a giant flying ship. Technically flying ships could stay in the sky for an infinite amount of time as long as the ship had an energy source and as long as the ship was maintained regularly. Since no one would know the location of the prison there would not be any chances of a prison break. "Miss Helen, do you need anything from me?" Aditya asked. "Your Majesty, I just wanted to tell you that a few City Lords from the neighboring cities are requesting to see you." Hearing this Aditya could not understand why city lords from other cities would come here and request a meeting with him. They did not even serve him. But after thinking for a few seconds, Aditya's lips curved up as he realized why these city lords were here to see him. "Alright, take there.....!!!" "You girls wanted to come?" He simply asked. "No!!! We are going back to the desert ship." Julia said. As for Alicia, she planned to return back to the Istarin Empire for a quick meeting with her subordinates. Since she had taken a break from work, once in a while, she had to go back and have meetings with her subordinates. After all, she was the backbone and also the soul of her business. Without her, problems might arise.
While following Helen, Aditya couldn't help but feel that it was time for them to leave the central region. Since their main purpose for staying here had failed, he saw no reason to stay here. After all, they were on vacation. And the girls also had grown quite bored of staying here. There really wasn't much to see. 'The Dragon grass is going to appear in less than 20 days. Within this time period, we must go to the Ruins Great Starry Sky Empire and find the things that Lara's parents have left behind for her.' Aditya doubted that he would come to the Beast Continent after getting the Dragon Grass. After getting the Dragon Grass, he would need to return back to his empire. Aditya would become busy with his work and might not have enough time to bring Lara along with other girls to the Beast Continent later on. The city Lords were waiting for the Dragon Monarch in Helen's Mansion. Even though Helen told them to sit, they did not dare sit. Instead, they were awkwardly standing and waiting for the Dragon Monarch. While standing they looked at each other and made small talk between themselves. Click....!!!!
As soon as they heard the click sound, they all shut their mouths instantly. They straightened their backs and became serious.
There were 4 figures in the room. Three of them were Beast-kin males and the last one was a female Beast-kin. She was Fox-kin or Kitsune. After sitting down, he gestured for them to sit down as well. "Sir down so that we can talk." Right now, no one would want to mess with the current Istarin Empire. If they willingly joined the Istarin Empire and served the Dragon Monarch, then in the future they won't have to worry about anyone daring to invade a territory of the Istarin Empire.
10:48
But instead of sitting down, all four of them got to their one knee in front of Aditya. "Your Majesty, please lend us your Protection." 'Sure enough, I was right.' Aditya had a small smirk on his face. "But what I will get in return?" Aditya asked back. Each of these city lords was also the Patriarch of a Beast-kin clan. The four city lords looked at each other before saying. "Your Majesty, our clans will pledge our loyalty to you. We will serve the Istarin Empire and the Dragon Monarch."
"The correct thing would be to say is that we want our cities to become a part of the Istarin Empire's territory." Helen was slightly surprised but she wasn't too shocked. Meanwhile, Aditya's smile widened. The current Istarin Empire had become so powerful and influential that City Lords were coming to him and begging him to make their territories a part of the Istarin Empire. Although this meant that they would need to pay a part of their income to the Istarin Empire, it was still worth it to them. After all, the central region of the Beast Continent was more chaotic and wild than the Northern region of the Beast Continent. Because of this region, no city in the central region was truly safe. The city lords that came here today were weak. They were really struggling to defend their cities from outside attacks. If this continued like, then sooner or later some other clan would defeat them and kick their clans out and would take over their cities and rule them instead. Rather than accepting this inevitable fate, the city lords came here today to seek refuge from the Istarin Emperor. Right now, no one would want to mess with the current Istarin Empire. If they willingly joined the Istarin Empire and served the Dragon Monarch, then in the future they won't have to worry about anyone daring to invade a territory of the Istarin Empire.
While also doing this, they would also gain access to the vast and almost seemingly endless resources of the Empire to develop their territories. Not to mention, the current Emperor was kind and caring to his people. In their eyes, this was a win-win situation. Meanwhile, Aditya will expand his Empire to the Beast Continent and will have a strong presence in the Beast Continent. After coming to Lionrock City and seeing just how much the city had changed in just 10 days, they were now even more willing to join the Istarin Empire. ----------------
