****
Gabriel stood inside the Garden of Legacy. His ring was still signalling that something was in this place, yet he still failed to find it. In the end, he came to a realization that there was a good chance about that thing being underground.
He still had no idea what it could be that managed to stimulate his ring to this extent. The last time his ring was stimulated, it was because of the God Tier Items Orbs of Time.
Unfortunately, at the moment, his face was quite unsightly. No matter how much he tried, he failed to dig the group. Even his powerful attacks couldn't leave a mark behind.
"No wonder this place was left unharmed in all that chaos before." He stood in silence with his arms folded around his chest, as if lost in deep thoughts.
He had tried everything! He used his attacks! He used his various Numens! He tried his hands. He even tried digging using an ordinary shovel but none worked.
For the longest time, he was the only person in the garden since he had banned anyone else from even thinking about entering this place.
"I can't dig this place, but without digging, can I bring anything out? Just what is this garden?"
Even the Church of Flames couldn't bear his attacks, turning into rubble but this Garden was still intact. Not even a single blade of grass was harmed.
After twelve hours of not succeeding, he turned around. He didn't know what this place was, but he understood that for now he couldn't understand the mysteries behind this garden.
Turning around, he left the garden.
****
Outside the Garden of Legacy, the Royal Knights were wondering why Gabriel was inside the garden for so long. However none of them dared to go inside to check.
It was only when Gabriel stepped out that they straightened up.
"They still haven't stopped?" he asked the Saint Knight, looking at the crowds of citizens in the street.
For some reason, after what happened with the Church of Flames, the citizens had not only started blaming him for being a coward but that blame slowly turned into hate.
If there was one person in the Empire who was hated the most at the moment, it was him! Quite a lot of citizens even lost the fear of death after what they went through last time, protesting in front of him, demanding his abdication without worrying about their lives.
What was worse was that the Saint Knight and Duke Callum had used some really heavy-handed methods to stop people from making noise while he was still unconscious.
Even though they did it for his own good, in the end, it made the situation even worse as people believed the new Emperor was a coward hiding from the strong and exercising his strength on the weak!
He could still hear the chants of citizens who called him cowardly, asking him to step down and let the crown return to the Bloodline of the Alecton Family.
For some strange reason, the citizens also found out that the two Princesses were still alive and they wanted the throne to instead go to them as they lost all their faith in him.
"Should we kill the Princesses?" Callum asked.
Gabriel shook his head. "The Princesses aren't the problem. They are just being used by the citizens as an excuse to remove me. If we kill them, these people will just demand someone else to be made Emperor."
He understood just what kind of thoughts that these people had. Who became the ruler of the Empire was secondary. They just wanted him to step down, no matter what.
Even though Gabriel didn't show any emotions on his face as if he didn't care about anything that was happening around him, it would've been a lie if one were to say if he didn't feel hurt. These people were the ones he risked himself to save and these people were also the ones who wanted to push him out.
If it was up to him, he wouldn't even bother with this weak Empire since this place wasn't of much benefit to him. There were just two reasons keeping him here. First was his promise with Novius and the second and most important was that he wanted to solve the mystery of the garden first.
Gabriel stepped inside the Carriage with Callum and the carriage started going back to the palace.
Unfortunately, it hadn't even moved far when it was forced to stop. The yells of the citizens were even more clear as thousands of them had blocked the path of the carriage.
Gabriel could only rub his forehead in frustration. Even though the citizens were protesting, he couldn't help but feel as if something was unnatural about it.
"Your Majesty, people are blocking our path. What are your commands?" The Saint Knight asked. Last time, he dealt with these people quite heavy handedly and ended up making Gabriel upset. This time, he directly asked Gabriel.
Gabriel opened the door of the carriage. The more he avoided, the more these people became agitated. It was as if they didn't even want to give him a chance to move peacefully.
As Gabriel stepped out of the Carriage, he was able to see that amongst the people who were blocking his path this time, there were also quite a few people who were from the Knight Academy, one of the most prestigious academies in the Empire that trained Knights.
He could sweep all these people away with one wave of his hand. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be a Knight in this Empire and not a Mage.
He stood next to the Carriage, looking at the crowd ahead of him. Most of the citizens didn't have any weapons. They didn't even have sticks. They were just raising his hand, demanding Gabriel's removal from the Royal Palace.
The only people in the crowd who had weapons were the students of the Knights Academy. They all carried a treasure sword on their back.
"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"
"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"
"Chicken Emperor, abdicate!"
The Chants roared in the surroundings. The citizens had already given him the name of Chicken Emperor because he was such a coward.
"Because of your cowardice to stop them, my entire family died! Abdicate you bastard!"
"My entire life's wealth was destroyed! Abdicate!"
"You don't deserve this Empire! You're a shame to the Ancestors of this Empire! Abdicate Chicken Emperor!"
The more Gabriel saw the scene, the worse their words became. Gabriel's expressions still didn't reveal anything. He just calmly observed these people.
In the end, he just turned around and walked to the Saint Knight to discuss something when a flying projectile came from the back.
Bang~
A stone hit Gabriel's head, coming from behind. One of the citizens even dared to toss a stone at him. Even though Gabriel's physical body was powerful, it was still enough to make him bleed. And that wasn't the end either. Once a person started throwing stones, others joined in.
