“Useless, you all are absolutely useless.”
The King declared with his eyes fuming in rage.
“Failing to find a single person even with so many men under your command, hmph, useless.”
This time, however, the Ministers didn’t stay silent.
“Your Majesty, things aren’t as simple as they seem.”
One of the Ministers stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
The King narrowed his eyes.
Right now, the last thing he wanted to hear were excuses.
“Our men have been searching all around the Kingdom and although we were unable to find Consort Allura, it doesn’t mean that we returned completely empty-handed.”
“What did you find out?”
The King questioned.
He was desperately hoping for a piece of good news.
However, luck didn’t seem to be on his side.
“Lady Allura wasn’t the only person to get kidnapped.”
“Huh?”
The King frowned.
“Yes, many missing cases have been reported within these last few days.
A Viscount named Felberta Avelye is missing along with her two closest maids. The method of kidnapping was very similar to Consort Allura, the carriage they were riding stopped and they disappeared in broad daylight.
Along with this Viscount, a few other nobles have been Kidnapped as well, even some of the commoners met the same fate.
With this, we can be assured now.
This isn’t a work of a single individual.
It’s an organization, a big, and strong organization.”
Hearing these words, the King narrowed his eyes.
“Is there a connection between Allura and the others who were Kidnapped?”
“We have been trying to find that out, however, we were unable to come up with anything. Allura and all these people are not related to each other at all.”
The Minister shook his head with a disappointed look on his face.
“To have so many strong Cultivators as their members, this organization is definitely not a normal organization, they must have been staying in the dark for decades, looking for an opportunity to strike.
I don’t think they would act so brazenly just to kidnap some people at random.
There has to be a reason.
There has to be a pattern.
There must be some sort of hidden connection between the people they are Kidnapping. There has to be.”
The King spoke.
The Minister, however, shook his head,
“No, there is nothing in common, we have searched and thought about every single possibility.”
“Then think more.”
The King ordered.
“But-”
“No buts. I do not want any excuses, use that brain of yours and think of something. I am already holding back a lot since I haven’t beheaded you all for being so incompetent, now don’t make me regret my decision.”
The King snapped.
Seeing this, the Ministers looked at each other and frowned.
Then, collectively, their eyes fell on Keeve.
Seeing this, Keeve sighed, and then, he stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, I don’t think it would be that easy to track these people down.”
“What do you mean?”
If it was someone else who had said those words, the King would have snapped by now, however, Keeve was different, he was the man who the King trusted the most.
He was his strongest and the most loyal subordinate.
Therefore, the King treated him with respect.
“These people are stronger than we expected.”
Keeve replied.
Ricardus’s frown deepened.
“A few days ago, Ember Windstar, the General of the Woods Dynasty, was about to return to the Capital in a carriage when suddenly, she disappeared.
The men who were hired to escort her were found dead near the carriage.
Doesn’t this sound familiar?”
Keeve questioned.
“You are trying to say…”
The King finally realized.
“Yes, I suspect that the ones behind the disappearance of General Ember Windstar are the same people who have attacked Consort Allura.
This means that those bastards do not operate in the Skyfall Kingdom alone, they operate in Woods Dynasty, and presumably in the Solid Earth and the Skadi Kingdom as well.
The entire world is their playground.
That also means that searching inside the Skyfall Kingdom is foolish, there is a possibility that Consort Allura is in another Kingdom.”
“Another Kingdom?”
Ricardus frowned.
This makes things a lot more complicated than before.
In the Skyfall Kingdom, he could do whatever he wanted. However, there is no way this wide-scale search would be allowed inside any of the Kingdoms.
This would simply mean a slap to their face, after all.
No Kingdom would take it with smiles on their faces.
Ricardus’s face turned solemn, after a long time, he felt insecure…
There were chances that he might fail to clear the stain on his reputation…
However, suddenly, a question popped inside his mind,
“How was an organization this strong and influential, hid its traces so cleanly?”
Ricardus questioned.
“We thought of the same thing.”
Noticing the chance, a minister finally stepped forward.
“And after all the considerations, we finally came to a conclusion.”
“What conclusion?”
Ricardus questioned.
“This organization is supported by one of the four strongest nations.”
“…”
The King narrowed his eyes.
There were chances that what the minister said was true, and, the King didn’t want to admit it, however, if one of the Kingdom actually does have control over this organization, then that Kingdom is stronger than the Skyfall Kingdom.
“What do you guys think? Who do you think are the ones behind this organization?”
Ricardus turned towards Keeve and questioned.
“If I had to guess then it would be the Solid Earth Kingdom.”
“Solid Earth Kingdom? Why them?”
The King couldn’t understand.
Aren’t they the weakest?
How could they possibly support an organization this strong?
The King couldn’t understand.
However, Keeve had his own reasons,
“The Solid Earth Kingdom has been acting strangely.
From what we know, after the losses they suffered in their previous expedition inside the Bloodhill Wilderness, they have become the weakest out of the four Kingdoms.
However, even after that, that Kingdom is still waging war against the Woods Dynasty and was actually winning. Let alone fighting back, the Woods are finding it hard to even hold their grounds and stand firmly.
Just how is something like that possible?
Something must be wrong inside the Solid Earth Kingdom.
I strongly believe that we should place our focus on them.”
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