King's Rule: Creating the Strongest Kingdom With My Broken Talent-Chapter 25: Dark Conversation, Vesh’s Ambition

"Meow!"

Kaeli meowed contentedly as she wolfed down the delicious marinated and roasted fish dish in a spicy and sweet broth.

The currency here was gold coins and D-rank magic crystals, though D-rank magic crystals were a rather rare sight in this poor kingdom.

Vesh could create both of them with his Wheel of Elements.

Naturally, if those things were created with one’s Mana, they would be temporary, lacking substance. So they would disappear after a while.

But Vesh had the substance—Refined Magic Energy from the Ascension Storm of Heaven and Earth.

Gold and Mana Stones created with R.M.E. were permanent.

So Vesh created a bunch of gold coins to splurge here.

The Ascension Storm of Heaven and Earth basically allowed him to exit the matrix of currency. All he needed to do was get to the sky and run his craft with a wave of his hand.

...

The group ate at many different places. The appetite and digestion for normal food were as easy as drinking water for peak Sprout-rank powerhouses like them. That was how powerful their new lifeforms’ metabolism was.

"Kaeli has pretty powerful talents, right? Now that the cutie is also peak Sprout-rank, wouldn’t she be quite terrifying?" Rovina asked as she rubbed Kaeli’s chin while the cat sat next to her at the table.

The group was resting in a rather chill and luxurious place known as the Sky Branch Pavilion Cafe.

It had several small pavilions for group customers and a big area on the side for dance and singing shows. They also had drinking and dining services.

But the cost was 1,000 gold coins per hour for unlimited food and drink during that time.

"So Viana doesn’t know the political strife of the kingdom, or what they are doing to save their kingdom, if they are even doing that. In that case, I first want to know if they are extending their hands to make any allies."

"So I did this."

A transparent barrier formed around the pavilion, preventing their voices from getting out.

But it also did another thing. It masked a holographic image of a 3D square screen that Vesh generated in the middle of the table.

All sides of that square showed the same live feed of the busy scene in the Crosshawk Royal Palace.

"This apparently is their Foreign Relations Section, and it’s the only place that’s busy right now. They are using that round orb device to communicate with people. The King is present there, along with a few princes."

"That’s a person from the Tenebrous Light Cult," Viana exclaimed as she spotted a bald man with a crimson dragon tattoo on his head, sporting a fighter-style leather outfit.

"Do you know who they are talking to?" Vesh asked as he activated the sound the moment the King began speaking to the person shown in the crystal ball.

[King: Prince Artibour, we are only left with a few precious spots and just one D-rank magic crystal mine that will only last for a few years. But if we can retake my second D-rank magic crystal mine that the Torak Kingdom took away, along with my fortress town, I will make sure we give you 25% of the production.]

[Prince Artibour: 25%? Forget it. 70% or no deal. Torak Kingdom’s forces are not that weak, and they will surely give their all to defend what they took, unlike you. One D-rank magic crystal mine produces tens of thousands of Seed-rank soldiers, after all.]

Crosshawk King clenched his fists as silence descended in the big room after hearing that reply.

However, his kingdom was not strong enough to retake that territory on its own.

Not after many nobles and soldiers defected, and many died in the past two wars last year alone.

[King: Give us one day.]

[Prince Artibour: Sure. You can ask others.]

Throwing a sly smile, the prince cut off the communication.

"Damn it!"

The king stormed out of the room with the two oldest princes and the cult member behind him.

Above them floated a large invisible eyeball with an advanced formation that allowed it to capture everything in high detail visually, along with clear audio, with features to focus on certain people’s voices and reduce other noise.

"Seventy percent is a lot," the bald man from the cult spoke up. "You need more of it to build your kingdom and fight back, even with our help, unless..."

"Did she really escape?" a muscular prince with yellow spiky hair asked.

The bald man’s eyes turned cold. "Not only did she escape. Our three people are dead. Two Seed-rank could be ignored, but the Sprout-rank who died had a Tenebrous Rune. That’s a precious thing that grows alongside the user, and we can only obtain it once in a while."

"The higher-ups are not happy with this failure. Now is the time to make your decision. Ten thousand people are nothing."

"Come on, father. Who cares about the commoners?" the other prince with silky blue hair spoke in an irked tone. "Our problems will be solved. We have over a hundred thousand in the other city."

"That’s our second and only city that runs this kingdom. If we sacrifice ten thousand people there, they will lose trust in us completely. We’ll fall."

"How can we fall after that?" the blue-haired prince rebuked. "The sacrifice will summon a monster that the Torak Kingdom can’t handle. We’ll take over everything that belongs to them."

"You think it’s that easy?"

"Shut up, both of you," King Crosshawk intervened as the group arrived in his royal chamber.

After sitting at the table with the others across from him on the couches, the King looked at the cult member with a somber expression.

"Once we sacrifice ten thousand people for that plan, the Adventurer’s Guild will notice and pull out. We will be blacklisted. Same with the Sky Forge God’s Church. And if, by chance, someone from the church or a strong adventurer finds us not to their liking because of this sacrifice, the royal family will be the first to die."

The bald man wryly chuckled. "You’ll have to hope nobody strong takes notice in this backward kingdom. Or..."

A glint passed through his eyes.

"You can do the Blood Kin Tenebrous Sacrifice. That will give you an individual power boost and a Tenebrous Rune as well. You will become as strong as a Stem-rank powerhouse with extra power from the rune. However, doing this will also permanently limit your lifeform to Stem-rank."

"What kind of sacrifice is that?" the yellow-haired prince asked.

The bald man grinned at him.

"The sacrifice of ten direct blood-related family members."

"It’s getting late now." Standing up, tendrils of crimson darkness oozed out from his shadow. "Take your time and think about what to do. I’ll come here tomorrow at noon."

With that, the tendrils increased in number and devoured him before they also vanished like smoke.

"These cult people are too creepy," the blue-haired prince clicked his tongue.

Both of them looked like men in their twenties.

The king looked to be in his fifties.

"What are we going to do, father?"

The sons looked at their father, awaiting the fated decision.

Or not.

"Get the fuck out, both of you."

...

On the other hand, Vesh suddenly spoke up while everyone silently watched, his face smiling, though it somehow looked chillingly somber.

"I know exactly what to do to rack up crazy accomplishments in the next ten days and hopefully get the best possible title that will further boost my power someway."

Everyone blinked curiously.

"Meow?" Kaeli tilted her head as if asking what was on everyone’s mind.

Vesh chuckled. "Ananta means eternal and infinite. My kingdom should at least live up to its name, so we will not fight like others."

"We will not fight for territories."

A ragingly ambitious glint was born in Vesh’s eyes.

"To see a world utterly beautiful as I gaze over it, and have all people praise name of Ananta Kingdom, I will take over everything I walk upon and put it under my kingdom."

"Praise Ananta Kingdom? Not your name?" Viana blinked.

"You will find out in the near future why i said that." Vesh smiled and stood up. "It’s time to make a re-entry here in a different style, so let’s head back."

Arga and the others looked at each other.

It was clear that hearing the talks of that king and the others had put something in motion within Vesh and birthed an idea.

"Well, if that’s what you want, my lord, then we’ll do just that." Arga laughed as he also stood up. "So, what’s the plan?"

The others stood up, and Kaeli jumped onto Vesh’s shoulder upon seeing everyone ready to move.

"We’re probably going to smash some heads, right?" Kayan rubbed his fists.

"Nope. With this plan, I’ll show you what total domination means. We’ve eaten and looked around enough for three hours. Now it’s time to get back to work."

"This time, all of us will finally do some real work under the influence of King’s Rule." Arga grinned.

"Just... let’s make sure we don’t die during training." Rovina wryly smiled.

Viana clenched her fists. "I’m ready! I want to become more useful and awaken a new talent, if possible, that can help us on our path."

"Well then, let’s head back. I’ll put you all into training under King’s Rule while I..." Vesh cracked a wide grin.

"I will create an exotic war fortress with B-rank powered weapons and a surprise I have in mind that will become my first army."

"I wonder how strong it will be?"

"..."

"..."

"..."