Chapter 232: Underground Kingdom (1)

"Take your calming pills; otherwise, you're going to go insane," The queen says, and when I turn to look at the maids surrounding me, I saw that they were breathing heavily and sweating profusely. 

And it seems it wasn't only the maids, but the 3 guards that the queen had brought along, but their reaction wasn't as severe as the maids. 

On the other hand, the queen seemed pretty fine, just about as fine as me, which I assumed was due to [Grand Mind Magic] stepping in and stopping me from going insane? 

Wait… haven't I already gone insane, or have I gotten desensitized to terrible situations? Or maybe desensitized to common sense? 

"I don't know," I mutter before seeing Bridget stick out her hand with a white pill in the center of her palm.

"Thanks," I say before chucking the pill in my mouth. 

Gulp 

There was no immediate effect, but I guess the subconscious tension within my muscles slightly disappeared, but other than that, I felt no other changes. 

I cracked my joints a bit before following the queen down the massive tunnel, which honestly didn't go any longer than a few miles.

And with our high speed, we were able to make it to the end within 1 hour without taking a single break. 

"We're finally back," Bridget says, sighing a breath of relief and a warm smile eradicating any tension within her previous expression. 

Presented in front of us was a massive kingdom at least 5 times bigger than the Uxtan Kingdom and about 8 times bigger than my own kingdom. 

It was bustling with all types of races that mingled nicely with each other, but the rare occasional case of racism was quickly shut down by tightly packed security. 

The light was created by a massive yellow stone that stretched for at least a few miles which were engraved into the dirt and stone ceiling that formed a dome over the kingdom. 

"Welcome to my kingdom," The queen says, gesturing for me to walk down the grassy hill which was covered with trees. 

This is the true definition of an underground utopia… wait-

"What do you mean this is your kingdom? Isn't the Uxtan Kingdom yours?" I respond after hearing something that I couldn't believe. 

"I guess that is my kingdom as well, but as I knew that kingdom wouldn't last long, I decided to create one my own with my 2 friends right here," The queen says, pointing at Elisa and Dorna, who took a more relaxed tone and their loyal eyes were completely gone. 

"How embarrassing… Also, why did we bring this woman again?" Elisa says, throwing away her nice and loyal tone. 

"She's strong, and since she can't go against me, I can bring her wherever I want… isn't that right, Arpious," The queen says, walking over to me and tracing her finger up my stomach and to my lips. 

"Yes, my lady," I respond with eyes that started to grow colder. 

This place… is troublesome. A kingdom of this size must have an army that's well over the hundred thousands, which can easily wipe out my own kingdom if we don't prepare. 

Aika can definitely summon monsters, but I'm afraid that half of them are just cannon fodder while this kingdom could have normal trained soldiers that will blast through that cannon fodder. 

"Hmmmmm… Is there something wrong, Arpious?" The queen asks me, causing me to snap out of my deep thought. 

"N-no, please lead the way," I respond. 

As soon as the queen turned her back on me, my hand reflexively stiffened into a knife-hand that could've easily killed the woman in front of me. 

Should I kill her now? We'll have time to plan an attack and then use this place to attack the Uxtan Kingdom from within the inside. 

… No, I can't be too rash until I determine the parameters of the strongest being within this kingdom. There could be stronger people here, so acting rash will only lead to my demise. 

"What with all the killing intent?" Dorna walks up to me and swings her arm over my shoulder. 

"Nothing… I was debating with myself," I mutter before lifting her arm off me and walking closer to the queen. 

I guess this tension isn't going away anytime soon. 

After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at the outer parts of the kingdom, which usually are slums, but for this utopian kingdom, it was just like every other part of it. 

It had long streets made from stones and carriages drawn by horses that carried what seemed to be the kingdom's nobles. 

"WELCOME BACK, YOUR HIGHNESS!" What seemed to be the entire kingdom shouted with glee. 

Sparkling eyes and expressions only displaying loyalty were directed at us, and some gazes wouldn't take their eyes off of me, sending a chill down my spine. 

Hmmmmm… bandits or maybe thugs… I guess it isn't as much of a utopia as I thought. But that makes sense as I'm pretty sure the original meaning of Utopia was "A place that does not exist…." Pretty funny. 

There is no paradise as darkness equalizes light and light equalizes darkness. One can not destroy the other, but they can counter each other perfectly. 

A perfect representation of this is heaven and hell. From what Paimon told me, heaven was able to push back hell to the depths of the planes but not completely eradicate them for some reason. 

I've formulated a few answers, but the biggest and most obvious is that heaven can't destroy hell as it's taboo within light and darkness. 

They need each other to balance each other out, and the great spirits probably knew that which means they were the ones who made it taboo. 

But if somebody were to destroy that taboo that hindered both places, a great war would break out that you would only hear in legends. 

"We're here. Arpious, follow me, and I'll lead you to your room where you'll be staying and introduce you to my children," The queen says as soon as we arrive in front of a massive palace, about the same size as the one in the Uxtan Kingdom. 

"You have children?" I respond but wasn't that shocked as I expected it. 

"Of course. I've been married for 25 years; of course, I'd have kids,"

"Wait… how old are you?" 

"I'm about to hit 42," 

"Holy shit! You're an old hag-" 

Suddenly, I was cut off by a pressure that weighed down on my shoulders, but I didn't need to guess who it came from. 

The queen's eyes glowed a dark red, and her body had turned into a black silhouette. It was hard to meet her eyes, and it seems everybody around me felt the same. 

"Arpious… are you looking for a punishment?" 

"N-no… A-also I think I'll explore the castle myself," I respond while entering the castle without even looking back. 

The queen let me do what I want so I, of course, took the offer and explored the massive palace that was near the center of the kingdom. 

thunk 

After only a few minutes into my exploration, two humans, one man, and one woman, walked out a wooden door, and they seemed to be knights, but not low ranking as their suits were filled with badges and sashes. 

They also resembled somebody I was all too familiar with. 

"Yo, you have a mom who is the queen of this kingdom?" I ask the two young humans in front of me. 

The man seemed to be a young adult while the woman was a late teen or possibly a young adult.

Her skin was so clear, and she had absolutely no wrinkles, so it was almost impossible to pinpoint her exact age. 

"Who are you?" The young man asks. 

He was about 6'2 and had straight dark purple hair with bright purple eyes that matched his mother. He also got the soft clear white skin that his sister and mother have, creating an image of beauty. 

This man was beautiful, but I could also tell he was fierce… his status was almost as strong as Elisa's and Dorna's, with his stats hanging around the 100 mark.

On the other hand, his sister seemed to have a tiny bit more skills with only slightly lower stats, but, she didn't have partial sword mastery like her brother. 

"I'm one of your mother's slaves," I respond. 

"Oh, a slave, huh? Then what makes you think you can talk to us like this?" The young woman says with a slight haughty attitude. 

This woman was beautiful despite her having a pretty much average body. The complete opposite of her mother, but at the same time, she took all the other good characteristics such as the long dark purple hair, light purple eyes, and clear white skin. 

"Damn, I was joking around. Well, nice to meet you both; my name is Arpious, and I hope we can work together later on," I say, putting out my hand for a handshake but was quickly denied as the pair just introduced themselves before walking past me. 

"My name is Charlotte," 

"And my name is Noah… it's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope that we can work well together later on," 

Though Noah said that, it seems they weren't sincere as they didn't even give my handshake a chance. 

Well… whatever…