In the end, by the time we walked past the gate, Adel was able to stop six hundred people before I had to replenish her mana. But she did a good job of reducing the mana consumption, and she even got better at targeting those she wished to cast it on, which made for very good progress.
Kim slowly trailed behind us in disbelief. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she held it back and had somewhat of an aggrieved expression on her face. She probably wondered why we would not stop this war when we could easily deal with everything if we so wished. But I am sure she also knew the answer to that as well. It was because it was not our problem, to begin with.
One may ask if I had a heart. One may ask since I have the power, why am I not using it to do good? And the answer is simple. Not my problem. As long as these two sides are not harming the citizens, then I will not interfere unless I am getting paid. That is just how it works when you work as a mercenary.
Kim took the lead as she was the princess of the kingdom. The guards who were standing at the side did not stop us at all as we made our way to the throne room. Only when we reached the throne room doors that had many guards outside did we finally get stopped.
"Princess! Who are these people!?" From what I could tell by the different style of armor, the person who spoke was the knight captain.
"Captain Clasis, they are envoys from the Kingdom of Gavos, and they have helped me return here. Also…. The Prime Minister is dead…." Kim answered, causing the knight captain to lower his head.
"I see…. One second. Let me announce to his majesty that you are here." The knight captain turned around and walked into the throne room, only for us to hear the king yelling out to let us in.
We were quickly led into the throne room where the king, who looked very haggard, sat upon his throne. He looked so stressed that I kind of worried about his mental health. But that was only a little bit.
We walked to the middle of the room and stood in front of the king. "Kim, you are safe…."
"Father, sorry it took so long to return. We had to break through the front lines to get here." Kim replied as she walked up to the throne but was quickly stopped by the guards. "What are you doing? You are stopping me from getting close to my father?"
"Kim, please understand at times like this…." The king said with a complex expression. It did not seem like he wanted to do what he was doing but had to.
Kim glared at the guard before stepping back. "Where are my brothers and sisters?" Kim asked, seemingly not wanting to continue to press the issue anymore.
"Only your sixth brother has made it back, and he is on the front lines. As for the others, I do not know. I have not heard from them yet." The king replied. "The one who started the rebellion was General Hammon. He had been wanting us to expand the kingdom for some time now. He seems to wish to take reign and do as he pleases with the kingdom. Sadly he had more soldiers than us using the same magitech as us. If things keep going as it is, it is only a matter of time before they will break into the castle. Kim. Take the envoy and escape through the secret passage. You can leave the kingdom and make a new life for yourself."
"Ummm… Sorry, but we are not leaving." I spoke up since I did not wish to waste any more time.
"You! You can not stay here! You must leave!" The king yelled out.
"Nope. Because as of right now, you have two choices. Make a deal with me and win this war or….. Lose the war, and I annex it all for myself after you are gone. I will give you five minutes to decide." I said as I calmly walked towards the king. The guards there all began to point their swords at me, but Adel stopped time for them, making them freeze in place. This was to show a small display of power as I walked over to the king unhindered. "Time is ticking, so think carefully because if you do not want to make a deal with me, then I will just watch everything from the sidelines."
"This…." The king looked scared as I walked up and sat in the queen's seat, and placed my elbow on the armrest to support my head as I lazily looked at the king at my side. He stared back at me and shakingly asked: "What are the odds you can win?"
"One hundred percent," I said with a smile. "But…. I want the mountain range to your north. All of it. It will become the property of the Kingdom of Gravos and will be defended as such. What do you say?"
"Deal! If you can truly win this war, then I will give the mountain range to you." The king did not really see the value of the mountain range nor did he seem to think something was off. If he was not in such a situation I am sure he would have noticed something was off.
"Then we have a deal. From this moment on the mountain range to the north will be blocked off from anyone entering it from the outside." I said as I waved my hand. If one were to look they would see the mountain range was now covered in a massive spinning barrier. And I mean the entire thing. Even parts in other kingdoms. Was I going to ask for permission from them? Nope!
