I doubt that they have managed to keep the plan to save the emperor a secret. Meaning the factions opposed to him will do anything they can think of to stop me. I wouldn't put anything at all past those who are hungry for power.

If they can't get to the emperor before I arrive, then the next best bet is to stop me. Or to upset me enough that I refuse to help the emperor, which means targeting the elves. Hopefully, the people on the emperor's side have realized this and made proper preparations.

I will just have to wait and see how things go when I get there, then react accordingly. On my way there I do see a few flying beasts, but they all fly away when they see me. Surprisingly, the trip to the capital is quiet and uneventful, but that doesn't make me relax.

As I fly over the capital I am fully prepared to be shot at and I don't get disappointed. Although, it is only a few arrows and the people firing at me get jumped pretty quickly. Of course, I don't let the arrows hit me, but I don't take it all that seriously.

Even if the arrows are poisoned, it won't matter since I doubt they could pierce my hide. Even if they did, I trust that I am tough enough to handle whatever poison they used. I was more worried about being shot at by siege engines or attacked with magic.

The imperial palace is not hard to find, it is in the very center of the city. It is a huge building surrounded by gardens and courtyards, it even has a golden dome on top. Rather than a palace, it makes me think of a university campus.

As I circle the palace to take a look a few more arrows are fired at me, but they can't hit me. I notice that one of the courtyards is surrounded by soldiers, I guess that is where they want me to land. As I land several armed people come rushing out, but the guards cut them down without hesitation.

Captain Choe says "Welcome, Lord Ash. I am Captain Choe of the Emperor's Imperial Guard."

"Hello, Captain. It looks like you have had a busy couple of days."

Captain Choe says "Yes, we have. The factions have been at each other's throats for a while. It was inevitable that conflict would break out."

"So, my arrival was just the trigger to start things off?"

Captain Choe says "Yes, exactly. Now, I am afraid that I have to be rude and ask you to take on a smaller form. Not all of the corridors in the palace are big enough for you as you are. My apologies."

"It's fine."

I shapeshift into my human form and then Captain Choe leads me into the palace. The rest of the guards form up around me, there are about fifty of them. I don't ask where we are going first, I am curious to see how the emperor is going to act.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

To my surprise they take me to the elves first, although it looks more like a military camp. The elves are in a series of rooms, but there are over a hundred Imperial Guards around the rooms. I am happy to see that they have taken the protection of the elves seriously.

There are two-hundred and seventeen elves in total and the empire looks to have treated them well. After I make sure there are no magical spying devices set up, I open the gate to the ship. Stillwater and Brightfire come through as soon as the gate opens and I leave it to them to convince the elves.

Things go well and soon the elves are making their way through the gate in an orderly manner. It still takes about a half of an hour to get all of them through it, but that is understandable. Brightfire leaves last and as soon as she is gone I close the gate and turn to the captain.

"Alright, Captain, take me to your leader."

The guards who had been protecting the elves join my protection detail. So I am escorted to the throne room by what feels like a small army. When the huge double doors that lead into the throne room open I see that the room is packed.

The throne room is huge and the walls are covered in gold, but it is hard to see anything else. There are nobles and politicians crowding both sides of the room and there are hundreds of them. There are also hundreds of Imperial Guards in the room keeping an eye on everyone.

The guards are lining the walls and there is also a solid line of them in front of the throne. There are also a couple more guards standing behind the throne, but their armor is more ornate. The throne itself is massive, sitting on a raised platform, and made completely of gold.

To be honest, it looks really uncomfortable, but comfort isn't its purpose. It was created to be intimidating and it succeeded, but it is wasted on the man sitting in it. The emperor is a small, old man who looks like a raisin that has been bleached.

His hair and beard are completely white and the fancy robe he is wearing looks too big for him. He was probably a big energetic man in his youth, but now he has mostly wasted away. However, despite looking like he could die any second, he still has an aura of authority around him.

It is obvious from how everyone else is acting that he is the one in charge despite how he looks. Even the powerful looking nobles keep constantly glancing towards the emperor. Any movement that the emperor makes is noticed and analyzed by everyone in the room.

When the doors open, the nobles move aside and open a path to the emperor. Most of the Imperial Guards that came with me stay outside when I walk in. As I am walking down the path towards the throne, a noble suddenly draws a dagger and steps behind me.

However, before he can stab me, Captain Choe draws his sword and cuts the noble down in a single movement. No one in the throne room seems surprised by this and most of them don't even react. I noticed the noble when he moved, but I wasn't worried and wanted to see how people would react.

I was hoping that whoever was behind the attack would give themselves away, but they didn't. They were either expecting the attempt to fail, or simply don't care about the noble who died. There are probably a lot of politics going on behind the scenes, but I don't want to get into it.

I fully intend to do what I promised and then get out of here and let them fight it out. If it wasn't for the elves, I wouldn't care at all what happened to the empire. As far as I am concerned, the world would probably be a better place if they all killed each other.