?"One year... All I need is one year and you'll see a new city. You'll see a city that would be strong enough to protect itself from everything that comes its way, even if it's the Royals!"
"They want to wipe out the mixed blood within a year? Let them dream! Within this one year, I'll make you strong enough that even the Royals will have to think twice before attacking us!"
"However, until we're absolutely ready, we can't afford a war. So I have one humble request from you all. If possible, I don't want you to tell anyone about what happened here today. If the Royals knew, they would come attacking before we're ready."
Karyk's voice was filled with compassion and seriousness. The people responded in a similar manner, taking an oath to always follow Karyk's instructions.
They didn't care how hard they had to train and what methods they had to follow. They wanted to become strong enough to protect themselves. They wanted to be strong enough to make the Purebloods regret ever calling them vermin.
After telling everyone to be careful and wait for the next set of instructions, Karyk finally turned around.
No one other than The Puppet Master could see the look on Karyk's face at that moment. Karyk's eyes carried no happiness, which surprised the puppet master.
It was as if ever after he succeeded, he wasn't happy. He was just as serious as before, realizing that this was just the first and easiest step.
He had only gained the loyalty of the citizens. But that didn't change the fact that all the people left in this city were just civilians as all the guards had already been killed along with the City Lord in the past.
They were the weakest people here. Let alone being able to fight the Purebloods, they couldn't even survive against ordinary mixed blood guards of other cities.
The biggest obstacle in his path was to prepare his own army. He had to make these people stronger by any means possible. He also had to start his own intelligence group that could spread out to other cities.
All of this was a headache and took too much work. He wasn't even sure how to start. For now, he just decided to focus on improving his law of death so he could put his main plan in action.
As Karyk was returning to the Palace, accompanied by the Puppet Master, he heard the chants from the citizens in the back.
"Long live the City Lord!"
"Long live the City Lord!"
"Long live the City Lord!"
The chants continued, echoing throughout the entire city. Even after he reached the Palace, he could still hear the echo.
"What fools. They fell for such simple lies." While Karyk was just about to step inside the Palace, the Puppet Master spoke.
"I didn't lie to them when I told them I'll make them strong enough to resist the Purebloods." Karyk's words came in response as he entered the Palace.
The Puppet Master was behind him. The doors closed on their own after both of them entered.
"If you truly believe that it's possible, then you're a bigger fool than you look," the puppet master rolled his eyes, not believing Karyk in the slightest. "If it was that easy, you think the Celestial Dynasty would've fallen?"
"The forces of our Dynasty which had a history of millions of years couldn't last against their onslaught. You think you can, with the help of this small city?" he scoffed.
"I believe I can," Karyk commented. "You want to know why?"
"Why?" the Puppet Master asked.
Karyk halted. He turned around, looking deep in the man's eyes. "Because I'm not you."
After finishing, he turned around and returned to his room, the sound of his footsteps breaking the momentary silence between them.
The Puppet Master remained behind, clenching his fist. He wasn't sure if Karyk was overconfident or an idiot. But he didn't like his words. It was as if Karyk was telling him that they lost because they didn't have a leader like him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't counter those words as they had actually lost. None of their leaders even managed to kill a Pureblood while Karyk had done that right before his eyes.
If they had a leader like him who knew a method to kill the invaders, the outcome of the war would certainly be different. It was impossible to win a war where you couldn't even kill the enemy after all.
However he also believed that this was only possible if they had the huge army that the Celestial Dynasty had possessed. Even if they now knew of the methods to kill Purebloods, it was almost impossible to win the war with just a mere city.
There were more Purebloods Warriors in this world than there were citizens in this small city. Even if all of them knew a method to kill a Pureblood, that didn't mean they could actually do it.
Just because two mortals could kill each other, didn't mean one was going to win a war if they didn't have the numbers to support the war.
In the end, he let out a sigh as he turned around. He didn't know if Karyk could actually succeed or not. But he didn't want to see Karyk's failure. At this moment, both their futures were linked with each other.
Although he didn't like Karyk, he knew that his failure was the same as their failure. This was their last option.
No matter how hard it was to succeed, the Puppet Master did pray for a miracle as he walked to his room. Along the way, he also told the Celestial Empress every action of Karyk, including how he gained complete control over the city.
The Empress appeared more and more impressed as he heard of Karyk's actions. However her smile disappeared the moment she heard Karyk's last words about the cause behind their failure.
The words came across as Karyk disrespecting her ancestors, putting him above them. For that reason, she felt angry. Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about it.
Still, she decided to never forget this disrespect.
