Chapter 196 – Sangus

“BAM”!!

In the secret chamber of the capital’s castle, Archmage Sangus crushed the crystal wine glass in his hand. Beside his seat, the terrified King was panicking, utterly at a loss for words.

“G-Great Archmage, what should we do? Those ungrateful Nobles have… have betrayed the Kingdom! If this continues, I’ll become a puppet king… I’ll be overthrown! They… they even want to kill the Kingdom’s last hope—Princess Trelinka—and force me to order Vick Swordsaint to carry out a massacre… This… this is clearly destroying the royal family’s reputation…”

“Silence! You are a King! Even with a blade at your throat, you mustn’t lose composure. Look at what you’ve become!”

Sangus roared irritably, causing the sniveling King to tremble violently, his flabby flesh rippling like waves.

Seeing the King in such a state, Sangus couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Now, the Church of Dawn’s influence had thoroughly infiltrated every aspect of the nation, and the Nobles no longer cared about the Dillon Kingdom’s honor. When the Dillon Kingdom had only Sangus as its Master-Level powerhouse, they had maintained superficial respect. But now that Kasparqi had also advanced to Master-Level, successfully countering Sangus, no one in the entire Kingdom seemed to care about national sovereignty anymore.

Sangus shot a frustrated glare at the cowardly King. The Kingdom’s decline could largely be attributed to the increasingly weak-willed Emperors over recent generations.

“Sigh, that Kasparqi isn’t deploying his Church’s clergy. Instead, he’s sending the last warrior loyal to the royal family—Vick Swordsaint—to the front lines. Whether they win or lose, the Church’s interests remain unharmed. This strategy is truly not to be underestimated.”

Sangus tapped the armrest of his chair with his withered fingers, muttering to himself as if struck by a sudden realization.

“Maybe… maybe I can order Vick to disobey the command! After all, Vick only follows my orders as the King!”

The King slowly raised his head, voicing his idea in a trembling tone.

“Fool!”

Sangus nearly spat in the King’s face.

“Use your pig brain to think! Vick is loyal to the ‘King,’ not to ‘you.’ Why do you think a fool like you became King? It’s only because those Nobles found you obedient enough! If you stop being ‘obedient,’ any of your forty-plus sons could take the throne. Nearly half the Noble council has already sided with the Church of Dawn. They could overthrow you in two days. Once you’re no longer King, do you think that stubborn Vick, who rigidly adheres to the ‘late King’s’ decrees, would still listen to you? What good would issuing such an order do besides exposing this ‘spy’s’ identity… Oh, right, as a ‘spy,’ you’ve never been of any use anyway!”

Sangus berated him almost without pause. The forty-something, balding King endured the scolding like a chastised child. This display—”being a monarch yet lacking the courage to even retort”—only fueled Sangus’s fury further.”Enough, enough! You just focus on being your king properly, do whatever that bastard Kasparqi says, and don’t give him any excuse to overthrow you from the throne! Sigh… At least your position as the ruler of a nation would still be considered ‘legitimate’!”

Sangus wearily closed his eyes. As a Master-Level powerhouse, this was the first time he felt utterly exhausted, or rather, spiritually drained.

As a Master-Level Mage who had lived for over three thousand years, he was already very old. The Dillon Kingdom was practically built with his assistance, and now he could no longer protect this nation for much longer. Yet the newly promoted Kasparqi was still very young. Even if Sangus wanted to spend a few centuries contending with the Church of Dawn, he no longer had the time. This feeling of helplessness left Sangus slumped in his chair, unwilling to rise.

“If I recall correctly, when Princess Trelinka left, she took the ‘Tears of the Spring’ necklace with her. And that staunchly loyal-to-the-Glory-Army powerful lord, the Bidolan Family, still possesses the three Master-level items left from back then, correct?”

Just as the King was dragging his obese body to leave, Sangus suddenly spoke up.

Hearing Sangus’s question, the King seemed momentarily stunned. It took him a while to grasp the meaning behind Sangus’s words.

After that group of powerful nobles collectively “chose sides,” the current “Glory Faction of the Dillon Kingdom” had little strength left to wield. The only two Formal-Level professionals under Princess Trelinka who could rush to support Mig Fortress were both below Level 11 and didn’t even possess a single piece of Formal-Level equipment. They stood no chance against Vick Swordsaint, who had been at Level 14 for centuries and possessed two pieces of Master-level equipment.

So, if Sangus wanted to save Princess Trelinka’s life and preserve this last remaining “Glory Army” still fighting for the sovereignty of the Dillon Kingdom, the only force he could rely on was the powerful yet highly unstable “Nightwalker Alliance.”

Sangus now intended to use those Master-level items as rewards to attract members of the “Nightwalker Alliance” to intervene and protect the Kingdom’s last “Glory Army”!

“You can’t do that, Archmage!”

Having sat on the throne for over a decade, the King was not a complete fool. Once he understood Sangus’s plan, he immediately fell to his knees with a “thud,” blurting out a stream of incoherent excuses:

“The three Master-level items of the Bidolan Family are one thing, but… but the ‘Tears of the Spring’ is the late King’s only relic! It’s the sacred object of the Kingdom! If even that is lost… how could I face the late King in the God Realm after I die?!”

“God Realm my foot! With your level of faith, you’d only end up plastering walls for the God of Death! Cough! Cough!”

Sangus was so furious he broke into a coughing fit, mercilessly berating the King:

“Now that the late King’s relic is about to be lost, you’re suddenly worried? All these years, when you skipped morning court to ‘enjoy’ yourself with five or six concubines every morning, why didn’t you think about the late King’s glory? Do you think the ‘Tears of the Spring’ won’t be lost just because you say so? Do you think that necklace will return to you after Princess Trelinka dies? Do you think that brat Kasparqi is blind?!”Sangus grew angrier the more he scolded. He had no desire to lose the “Tears of the Spring,” nor did he wish to surrender any of the three artifacts belonging to the Doklan family. He even contemplated using the “Nightwalkers” and then refusing payment, or personally eliminating these unstable “bombs.”

However, Sangus ultimately remembered what kind of madmen the “Nightwalkers” were. He was merely an Archmage nearing the end of his lifespan, riddled with countless hidden injuries, with his combat prowess reduced to at most thirty or forty percent. The gap between Master-Level and Formal-Level strength wasn’t as vast as the “major realm” difference that could disregard numbers. (See end of chapter for details.)

Even if Sangus were to go all out now, he had less than a thirty percent chance of slaughtering several Formal-Level experts determined to flee. And the Dillon Kingdom could no longer withstand the frenzied retaliation of a group of lunatics!

Seeing the fat King who only sat on the ground sighing in despair, Sangus suddenly felt an indescribable disgust. He directly used a Mage Hand to hurl the obese King out of the secret chamber and slammed the heavy door shut.

“Alas, just hold on a little longer, just a bit more… I hope… I hope I still have the strength to fight Kasparqi to the death!”

Sangus smiled bitterly, took out several different potions, drank them in one gulp, then wearily closed his eyes to meditate.

————Additional Notes————

Advancement from Apprentice to Novice is considered a prior realm elevation. Advancement from Novice to Formal is a realm elevation.

Advancement to Formal-Level Mage is a minor realm elevation.

Advancement from Master to Legendary is a major realm elevation.

(Detailed realm explanations are in Chapter Four)

(End of Chapter)