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Chapter 086: They Are All Loyal

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King Joffrey frowned. Of course he also heard it earlier but he didn't refute it because as his direct subjects, it was only natural that they would make an enemy of anyone who doesn't pay homage to his majesty as The King.

But this time is different. Not only was he unable to pull the momentum on his side, Siva's 'majesty' was also, at the very least, as bright as his own.

As such, as a King on the same pedestal as him, this "royal subject" calling Siva names was a direct insult to both Siva's dignity as "King" and also his own dignity as the host country's King.

The subject, knowing this, trembled as he knew his mistake but trusting their country's military and thinking that a no-name "Asgard" posing as same-level country as their Bardavon, which is a Terran High Seat Country, was just absurd, he lowered his head slightly but didn't bow his head down as befitting of the respect earned by a King.

What more, he also slightly saw the glare on King Joffrey's eyes directed at him. He perceived it as a signal to show Siva that, in Bardavon, he doesn't have the right to pose on the same level as their great and mighty King Joffrey.

Thus, he didn't kneel down and begged for Siva's forgiveness and only did the slight gesture of him admitting his mistake.

"I'm sorry Your Highness, Siva, for calling you a maggot earlier. It was my presumptuous tongue that got the better of me."

"Is it now?" Siva's tone had a teasing tone to it.

When the Vajras heard this, they immediately felt a chill on their spine. Did this ignorant bastard not see that Her Highness Mohindra was already at the ready in frying his brains out?

To dare insult Siva the second time, outside of not only admitting his mistake but also showing an improper decorum befitting of given titles, their ire couldn't be more intense as it was now.

They may only number under ten, but each and every one of these Vajras was a seasoned fighter and veterans on their ranks. Each and every one of them was at least a Chaos God-level existence.

Basically, they were Gods.

Shouldn't these weak Terrans be trembling in fear when in their presence?

Alas, just because the tiger was sleeping, they've began to think it was a tamable domestic cat.

—bastard!

——can't you read the mood?!!

Joffrey cursed in his heart. He knew this guy very clearly, down to the very marrow of his bones. He was a loyal subject, through and through, but this time, his loyalty was placed on his butt, inviting a disaster to befall on him.

And, true enough, Siva didn't let this chance slip by as he leaned back, laughed, and then faced (a secretly sweating) King Joffrey.

"You hear that. He called me a maggot."

—f*ck you! Stop finding reasons to punish him!

Joffrey (secretly cursed) lightly laughed and took a step to admonish the subject.

"Aiiissshhhh, this stupid bastard! Not only did you not show respect to a country's King, you actually insulted him right on his face! Kneel down and beg for forgiveness or I swear, I'll cut your tongue out right this instant!"

Joffrey wasn't used to admonishing his subjects and these guys knew it.

They thought that his angry and furious face was just a farce (and secretly laughed). To show Siva that he was still a King with authority to his loyal subject, they all lowered their heads in humility, but didn't put effort into hiding the grin plastered on their faces.

—it's over...

Joffrey thought inwardly.

——why do I have such idiotic subjects...?

The man thought the same as the rest and so fell into all fours and (pretended to) begged for Siva's forgiveness. But his tone was still flat as if reading hieroglyphics from a tome of Advanced Calculus.

"Please forgive me for calling you maggot, Your Great Majesty, Siva. I was not on my right mind so I will not call you a maggot ever again."

Pfft....

It wasn't clear as to who from the ranks of Royal Subjects this muffled laughter came from but the audible sound was crisp and clear to their ears.

Mohindra's fists were clenched hard but seeing that Siva didn't give a signal, she held her anger in and only glared deathly-gazes at the man. It was also because she heard a 'don't act' whisper on her ear from Siva. She knew then, given Siva's temperament, he wouldn't let this go easily. She trusted he had a plan.

Joffrey felt Mohindra's ire and gulped, praying the taunt wouldn't be perceived and Siva would go on his way and forgive the bastard.

And like a blessing, Siva laughed and waved a hand, lifting the man up, cleaning his clothes.

"Ai, ai, ai... you shouldn't be kneeling down on a dirty ground like that for it will ruin your clothes. I am a benevolent king. I give friendship to those I deem worthy, and I promise my prosperity to the people that come under my name. I see that you are a promising individual, can I ask for your name then, loyal one?"

Siva was like a different person right now.

His choice of words, dialect, manner of speech, and his actions doesn't fit of his image at all.

The Vajras knew this, especially Mohindra who'd been making contact with Gaia ever since she had agreed for the Elves to join The Asgard. She had heard of Siva's temperament from her and since the two women knew who Siva really was, there's some kind of 'friendly understanding' that they felt with each other.

The Loyal Subject was surprised, as the others, and while he was still confused as to why Siva was asking his name, he answered, "I am called Ashbin, Your Highness."

"Ashbin! A good name! It sounds like a place to go to when you don't want something to bother you."

The man, his name being praised, immediately felt light-hearted and nodded, "Yes. Yes! My mother used to tell me that in an ancient Terran Tongue, my name was meant to be a place of retreat for a few who had already lost their purpose in life. It was kind of a retreat place."

"It is indeed." Siva delightedly patted the man's shoulder and then looked at the rest of the Royal Subjects of King Joffrey. "Well, it would seem that all of your Royal Subjects were of one heart and of one mind, King Joffrey. It makes me think that your Royal Court is full of promising people like these guys."

Joffrey, confused of this unusual friendliness, felt nothing wrong with his words and actions and so gave Siva a slight hesitant nod.

"You can say they are all loyal."

"Good. A good thing." Siva laughed, "Well then, I don't want to waste any more time here. Why don't we all ride the same vehicle and tour the city for a little bit? I wanna see this city before we go to your Royal Capital City."

"There's no need for Your Highness to be in this hurry, right?" Said Joffrey. "My royal subjects will be using a different convoy vehicle than us and are still busy people so they'd be going back to the capital first. Why don't you enjoy a few days' rest here?"

"Ah, what a pity. If it's not for the urgency of this visit then I'd love to enjoy your hospitality. Alas, it is time that is not on our side so we should hurry and proceed with the purpose of this visit and be on our way. I believe you've contacted the other High Seats as per Lady Mohindra and Lady Gaia's requests, yes?"

Plastic faces and burning hooks —the laws of the jungle are but one side of the world of Kings and Politics, and Priests, and other Hands of Gods.[1]

Siva nodded and then followed Joffrey. After one or two hundred steps, the seemingly normal and proudly smiling Ashbin suddenly felt a slight pang on his stomach that made him stoop and groan in pain, garnering the attention from his colleagues.

"Hey, what happened to you?"

"I don't know. It hurts."

Sweat gathered on his forehead. His face twisted in agony, his lips purple, his face pale.

"Can you handle yourself?" asked another man.

"Take me to the hospital. Quick. I think something is in my stomach that doesn't belong there."

The convoy of the Royal Subjects took a different turn but Siva's entourage continued to exchange stories, not knowing what's happening on the other group of politicians who left for the capital.

Mohindra and the Vajras all had smiles on their faces, with Linda's mother, in fact, scoffing and pulling her daughter along to keep their pace.

She was usually reticent but retained her dignity as another "Highness" but after the display of this King's Subject's attitude towards her liege, she felt disgust and found them, for the first time in her life, irksome.

Linda noticed this change and realized something.

She had clung tightly to her mother's side as she looked at Siva's back with a deep sense of fear.

Who would have thought that the words Mohindra described to her on the official missive before this visit was even graver than what was written?

(AN: Note, Siva sent an emissary to the Terrans in the middle of the Horbe Invasion Attempt)

Siva was a tyrant of a forgotten era and only a tiny bit of the current population —if nobody else— is aware of what identity the name "Siva" truly has.

But more than that, what made Linda scared of him was his ability to handle King Joffrey; known to have been one of the most stubbornly difficult Terran High Seats to negotiate words with.

They boarded a hover-shuttle, escorted by four Warship Frigates above, multiple Cyclones in their vicinity, and thousands of Infantry Units guarding Siva's every move, word, and actions from beside, above, and even below their entourage.

In the skies, 10 to 12km above, 50 more Warships are in formation, surrounding the city in every corner and possible angle, cannons at the ready, eyes and ears to every word and actions of these delegations from Horbe.

What made these warships scary were the people assigned on them.

Given that the Terrans of the Inner Continents are all battle-hardened by their situations, their overall strength exceeded those from the surface continents.

As such, their stats are above average as well.

Counting the Noah Racial Ability [Machinima], plus the normal Terran Profession, the Spell Casters, then the total strength of those in these warships, these are enough of a force to actually threaten even the Vajras in Siva's delegation.

Siva took note of their formation and knew that a tiny mistake and Mohindra and the rest's safeties would be compromised.

He might be able to escape by himself, but a few of Mohindra's escorts might get blasted off with a saturation fire if they commit anything towards the King of Bardavon.

Siva knew when to act and waggle his golden tail that's why he killed those two secretly and only left the crime's process on the King's imagination.

After all, it was them who insulted him first.

Terrafirma, as well as Laurasia —the home of the Dragons— was a continent almost twice the size of the East Continent of Espada in the surface, so the countries in it were also numerous, with their population at least five times the overall combined number of those from above.

Larger area and larger population, what these two locations have in common is that at least 70% of a country is an uncluttered area and 30% are only the occupied land——

—and the unpopulated area was full of monsters.

Bardavon's southern region faced the open sea and just here alone, it was already a large country comparable in size to the entire territory managed by The Union and its surrounding regions.

This is one of the [status] of a Terran High Seat.

Although Inner Continent's government structures for each country are more unique than the federal kind of governance in the countries of the surface continents, they still both have Walled Cities.

Especially in the Inner Continents where they've always been at war against the Dragon Clans, the Walled Cities here are sturdier, higher, and more special than the ones above.

The motive for why they're built like so is because of their reasons for being named in the first place.

Since the oldest Civilizations known in the Terran History, Walled Cities have always been "walled" because of the existence of monsters. With 70% of the land occupied by monsters, Monster Tides here are a cause for disasters.

In the surface, Monster Tides happen once a year but here in the Inner Continents, Monster Tides occur at least three times annually.

The Terrans aren't much aware of how the land of the Dragons in the east is faring against these all-encompassing continent-wide Monster Tides, but here in Terrafirma, they're an annual bane.

No matter how much strength the Terrans have in their numbers and no matter how much they hunt these Monsters all year-round, Terrafirma seems to never run out of monsters and every tide was as frightening as it was in its every written history.

Even the most stress-free Monster Tides still cost them hundreds of lives, and there are even times that the Dragons attacked with the Monster Tide, dealing massive damages for being unprepared, with a few accounts even telling of an entire city falling to the Dragons and Monsters... before the two sides eventually fought a savage contest of survival themselves after the attack.

This was his first official visit to Terrafirma that he can remember, and in just one glance he could already see the degree of difference the Surface Continents' countries had with the ones below.

"Is this just a satellite city?" Siva asked the King.

The King hid his earlier 'frustration' deep within his heart and nodded at him, "Yes. As you already may have guessed, the population and the life in the Inner Continents are bigger and better in that order since the Mana Density in this place was in full abundance all year round. But with that kind of abundance was its disadvantages as well. Monster Dens are almost everywhere and with this kind of environment rich in Mana, evolutions are not rare so there are times that Dragonkins are birthed in amongst the more advanced Monsters."

Siva nodded at this slight intro. Mana is life but it's not just to the Terrans' and Dragons' [Magic] and respective [Bloodlines].

It applies to all living beings in the Universe.

Joffrey's statement somehow made Siva think of the situation in Anazon Forest.

Electra being able to dominate the monsters is all because of the Mana Density being low above so there's only at least five or so Dragonkins among a Monster Horde. And so since the Mana Density is low, Dragonkins being birthed are also low in frequency, minimizing effort in taking control over that large piece of land.

But here in the Inner Continents, if, say, five in every ten adult Monsters evolve into Dragonkins, then it's no wonder that even the Seven Dragon Clans were being overwhelmed by just the sheer number of Monster Tides every year since every Dragonkin can rule over an entire horde and one Elemental Dragon's domination over an area was limited with the ratio of their population.

After all, the Seven Dragon Clans are tiny in terms of population but still has the same land-size as Terrafirma —thus they both races face the same situation, with the Dragon Race actually on a more passive stance.

Siva thought, and yet they still managed to attack a city in the middle of a Monster Tide... it's just pure bravery and madness in my opinion.

It takes a long time for a Dragon to mature and so to conduct such tactic was truly brave of them.

But then again, it was also risky. Siva didn't have to hear the rest to know that some of those kinds of operations backfired, leading to the death of a mature Elemental Dragon.

It's true that with a mana-rich environment such as the Inner Continents, Dragonkins —monsters who managed to awoke an Elemental Attribute on their bloodlines— being birthed by nature aren't that much of a wonder. After all, evolution was part of Mother Nature's mysterious magics.

"Through the years, with the help of the Warship Technology, us, The Noah, have risen up from a deep pit and into a glorious era, especially so for the last 50 years."

King Joffrey's story telling about Inner Continents now wandered over his own country.

According to what he just said, it would seem that from an insignificant sea-faring tribe, the Noah's [Machinima] Racial Ability found its calling with the Humans' Warship Technology.

It wasn't hard for Siva to imagine how they were before the arrival of the Humans. Back then, they might have been limited by the crude Magic-type Artillery Weapons they created with only the Magic Art Legacy of the Circle of Magi.

After the arrival of the Humans, that's where they began to shine the brightest.

Siva thought now, perhaps that's the source of this guy's pride and haughtiness earlier?

Because he's been used to being "useful" in the Terran High Seats, he forgot that there are still a few people out there who wouldn't bat an eyelid killing a bragging King who only knew how to sit on his laurels and lord around a production-based Kingdom of Terrans.

——with him being one of them.

"Bardavon is a Kingdom made up of mixed Terran Races just like most of the rest of the countries in Terrafirma. But the Royal Family is made up of an ancient Terran Family... I don't know if you have heard of us on the surface. We're from the [Noah Race] and my ancestors were supposed to be the best people when it comes to building war vessels for the Gods."

Siva rolled his eyes, now he thinks that the Gods of old's personal warships were only built by his people. Did he forget about the Dwarves, the race built in the lineage of crafting?

Joffrey was proud of his lineage and perhaps it's because of his racial "skillset" that there was the Kingdom of Bardavon and that the survivors of Noah's lineage were still kicking.

One could only wonder; back in the real world, a lineage of a few hundred years was already old and worthy of veneration, the lineage of Terrans existing today might actually be called "Gods" if they were to go out of here.

—but that's not what's important.

All this time, Siva had been watching a scene of a suffering imbecile.

Secretly, Siva sent a message towards the ear of the subject of his torture.

"Right now, how does it feel being eaten away by a mechanical maggot?"

After he sent that message, Siva ended his agony and gave him salvation by dealing the death blow.

"Hm? What was that?" Joffrey suddenly asked.

As Siva was enjoying the scenery outside while a bragging loud mouth provided background noise, just as Joffrey asked his question to Siva, one of his personal aides suddenly walked in, whispering a few words to him that made the King widen his eyes as he suddenly stared at Siva furiously.

"What is it? Is there a problem, Your Highness?"

Joffrey tried to maintain his calm breathing as he chased his breath, controlling his rage.

"Nothing." He finally said and then stayed silent, not uttering anymore of the stories he wanted to tell these delegates from Horbe.

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