"Lady Astaria, we are here."
Keeve and Reeve bowed their heads as they walked into Astaria's room.
Astaria glanced at the two of them and questioned,
"How are you people feeling?"
"We are fine, Lady Astaria."
Keeve replied, however, he didn't dare to look into Astaria's eyes as he answered.
He was embarrassed. Not only he, Reeve, Wysten, and the rest of the members of the Shadow Unit, all of them were embarrassed as well.
It has already been 3 days since they were defeated, however, the memories of it were still fresh in their minds.
And Astaria seemed to know about this.
"I shouldn't have chosen you people to test that man huh."
She commented, then, she sighed,
"Haahh… I made a mistake. I didn't know that boy was so strong. I should have chosen someone else…"
Hearing those words, Keeve felt a strange pain in his heart, he couldn't hold back anymore and spoke,
"It was not your fault, Lady Astaria, we were just too weak to fight against him. We didn't train properly and got too conceited thinking we were the strongest Unit in the world when in truth, we were actually nothing."
Reeve nodded as well,
"Yes, we should have trained harder, maybe then we wouldn't have lost this shamefully."
Astaria glanced at the two of them and questioned,
"Are you doing it now? The training I mean. Are you working on getting better, or are those just baseless words you are using to make yourself feel better?"
"…"
"…"
Keeve and Reeve turned silent.
"You people weren't just sitting around, depressed that you lost for the last 3 days, were you?" Astaria questioned.
Keeve and Reeve tried to avoid eye contact.
"Look, that man was strong, honestly, even I was surprised by how strong he was, however, losing to him was not something to be ashamed of, nor it is something to be depressed about.
Make that man your goal, try to defeat it the next time to fight him, achieve heights that you never thought were possible, work hard and get stronger, if this still doesn't work, work even harder,
Just don't give up, you get that.
You are the strongest Unit in the world after all."
"As you command, Lady Astaria."
Keeve and Reeve nodded at the same time, their eyes shining in determination and fighting spirit.
Seeing that look in their eyes, Astaria smiled,
"Goo-"
However, just as she was about to praise them,
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
A knock was heard.
"Enter."
Astaria commanded.
A man with wrinkles on his face walked into the room and greeted,
"Lady Astaria."
"Wysten, why are you here?"
Astaria frowned.
Wysten glanced at Keeve and Reeve and reported,
"Queen Evane has summoned the Shadow Unit."
Astaria's expression changed and a small smile appeared on her face,
"So she is finally back huh…"
She then glanced at Keeve and Reeve and chuckled,
"Alright then, since the Queen herself has summoned you, I won't hold back. Go and report to the Queen.
And do it with pride.
Show her that although you were defeated, you still haven't admitted your defeat."
Keeve and Reeve smiled as they glanced at Astaria and nodded.
"We will be taking our leave, Lady Astaria."
Wysten spoke.
Astaria nodded. The three men then turned around, however, just as they were about to leave, Keeve turned towards Astaria and spoke,
"We will not disappoint you, Lady Astaria,
We will definitely defeat Lord Nux."
Astaria smiled and nodded.
The three men then left and walked towards the Royal Palace.
There, they saw other members of the Shadow Unit and Queen Evane and her Sisters.
Their eyes started searching for a certain man, however, it seemed that the man in question wasn't there.
"Queen Evane."
The Three Men greeted as they bowed their heads.
Evane glanced at them and nodded.
The three of them walked forward and stood near the other King Stage Cultivators.
"Prepare for the Phase 2 of the Lockdown."
Evane ordered.
The Week that Queen Evane had given to all the spies living inside the Kingdom will be over tomorrow.
Of course, since nobody knew what was happening inside the Royal Palace, not many people took this warning seriously. Most thought that it was just a publicity stunt performed by Evane to increase her reputation.
Many did wonder why she was called Queen Evane rather than Princess, however, they didn't think too much about it and continued with their work.
If they would get scared about every little warning like this, they would have never worked as spies.
If only they knew what kind of mistake they were making…
If only they knew about the condition of the Royal Palace…
Many people inside the Royal Palace who had seen how Evane worked actually felt pity for all the spies who were thinking of going against the Kingdom.
To be honest, they were excited to see how Evane's actions would shock the entire Kingdom.
Everyone knew,
Once the given 7 days were over,
A hunt would begin.
Actually, Evane and others had already prepared for the Hunt and the initial targets were already locked. Nothing surprising, but there were even some Noble Houses that were on that list.
How will they go after the nobles?
Nothing special, they would just barge into their houses under the Royal Authority, and if anyone dares to go stop them, they would face retaliation.
A tyrant-like behavior.
Suddenly, Keeve stepped forward and reported,
"Queen Evane, preparations are already complete, I have sent my subordinates to all the boundary cities and towns, they all would work with the reigning City and Lords, and from there, they would completely lock all the exits.
As soon as tomorrow's sun sets, leaving the Skyfall Kingdom would be impossible unless my subordinates, who are Grand Master Stage Cultivators, are defeated."
Hearing his report, a smile appeared on Evane's expressionless face.
"As expected from the Shadow Unit. Fast and efficient.
You are indeed the pride of our Kingdom."
Keeve smiled inwardly…
Being recognized by Queen Evane…
For some reason, it felt rewarding…
Much more rewarding compared to the time they worked under King Ricardus.
