148 The World has Changed

"Me king, look at tha arm"

each arm end was attached to matching black gloves and when he touched the end, Stodemar quickly grabbed the arm end and slightly turned it away as a sharp knife came sliding out of the arm

"I call this tha shadow blade"

It was the perfect hidden blade that one could ask for and Stodemar made the mechanism to work very smoothly without cutting Don's flesh or slashing his palm when it comes out

"So cool"

Catalie appeared before Don and looked at the armor with sparkling eyes

"Me king, it's just tha initial state o' tha armor, I wou' have done more work on it if there isn't a gathering ye have ta go"

"We want ye ta look best me king, nae that ye don't now"

"My brother always look good"

Don was really impressed with the armor as it looked stylish, fashionable and at the same time, it could provide more protection and the shadow blade could be used to kill the foes without making too much noise.

"I like it very much"

As he said, Don disappeared from the throne hall and went to his chamber to change into his new armor. Just as he expected, the armor perfectly fitted him and it neither restricted any movements nor felt heavy but quite the contrary it felt light and flexible.

Since he had to show his face in the gathering, Don didn't put the hoods on but put the cape that was excellently designed to cover the bow and sword without affecting the speed and motion of drawing and sheathing them.

The silver linings on the armor perfectly complimented his muscles beneath the armor as well as his raven black shoulder-length hair plus added a fashion element to the armor.

After stretching his arms and legs to get used to the new armor, Don left his room to meet the dwarves again and leave Everlight for Enarin.

"His majesty did this?"

Joel was checking the arrow cluster in the wall with Arrora and Arwen 

"I thought he's a swordsman"

"aye nae kidding, we thought that too"

"He did buy that bow for a lot"

Arrora said and pulled out the arrow from the wall

"If the wall was a skull, it would have shattered into pieces"

She had to use some muscle to pull out the arrow and she was a grandmaster

"The bow is certainly helped him but its not the whole reason, Arrora"

Arrora turned her head to see Knight is walking towards them 

"He did learn archery by himself while we were in the divine continent, I still can't believe how much stones we spent in buying arrows for his practice"

"Himself? why didn't you two go to a school or a sect if he wants to learn archery"

"I brought him to the best archer in the divine continent, but that old fool rejected Don"

They could see that Knight is still holding a grudge against the old man looking the slight killing intent in his eyes

"Why?"

"Your majesty"

"Me king"

"Is that a new armor?"

Until now Don's old man gave a warrior vibe but this new armor gave a warrior plus a king vibe.

"I like the new cape"

Knight said as the others nodded

"Alright we should go now"

Don took the arrows from Stodemars hand and put them in his space ring, however when Don looked at Arrora and Arwen, he realized that he has one more thing and looking at Don's face and where his gaze at, Knight understood what he's thinking

"You three should wear something else"

Arwen, Joel, and Arrora looked down on their clothes to realized that they are still wearing their usual robes

"yes, wear something fancy, would you? Do nae embarrass our king, you have a hall full of fancy clothes in the castle"

The dwarves chuckled pointing at Arwen and Arrora's clothes as they wouldn't miss a chance to make fun of elves

Arrora hated when the dwarves made fun of the elves and her kind but she couldn't say anything in return now because her clothes were indeed not fancy enough for a gathering of kings. Arwen on the other hand, calmly looked at Don and Don nodded at him to go to the clothes filled hall

"I'll be right back"

Arrora followed Arwen to the hall while the dwarves were still in the joy of successfully making fun of them 

"You too Joel"

Knight said as Joel ran back to catch up with Arwen and Arrora since he had no idea of where the clothes hall is

"How many guards do you need?"

"Twenty of our best men and tell them to wear the masks"

The invitation specifically mentioned that a king or a noble could only bring no more than twenty-five guards so Don decided to bring twenty

"Am I disturbing anything?"

Amaryll entered the room with the servants carrying plates full of various foods 

"Whoa, what's all this?"

Knight was surprised and shocked at the same time seeing the amount of food she brought

"It's what they're going to eat during their long journey, Knight"

"But they are only four people"

"Five, including Lord Clemo"

"I thought only you, Arrora, Arwen and Joel was going"

Amaryll looked like she made a mistake and couldn't know what do do

"It's more than enough Amaryll"

"You think?"

"I know"

Amaryll sighed and looked slightly relieved

"You need to eat more meat than salads Don, you're a king of three kingdoms now, aren't you?"

Knight giggled as Don waved his hand and a light ray appeared from his space ring and then vanished with all the foods

"Okay Amaryll, start training a team while I'm away"

"Will do"

*********************************

Leaving Ken in charge, Don, Arrora, Arwen, Joel and Lord Clemo started their journey towards the Enarin Kingdom.

The biggest and fanciest carriage that was used by King Hedor of Emir was taken by Don, Arrora, and Clemo while in another less fancy carriage of Agoria was given to Joel and Arwen.

While traveling in the carriage Don understood that Gabriella's comment about the road was no shit as the ride was bumpy as hell

"Your majesty, there are two routes to reach Enarin, first one is the long one that goes through Kingdom Sigalla, the second one is rather short but dangerous, the route goes through the outer lands"

"Let's go through Sigalla, we're not in a rush"

Don didn't want to waste time by going through the outer lands and dealing with the magical beasts as well as bandits in those part of the land, besides he wanted to go to the kingdom Sigalla 

"Right choice your majesty, the outer lands have become a playground to those wretched bandits these days, who knows how much trouble we would face if we go there?"

Lord Clemo was visibly pleased and relieved when he heard Don's decision

"Tell me more about the outer lands, Lord Clemo"

Lord Clemo's relieved expression changed in a flash but since he was asked he had no choice but tell everything he knows about the place

"Your majesty, what do you want to know? I don't know everything but I'll answer best to my ability"

"Actually how big is the outer lands? Why didn't anyone choose to take it?"

"According to the scholars, the outerlands is roughly one third of the continent, your majesty"

The Avelon Continent was divided into two empires, the Moon Empire, the Star Empire, and the rest of the continent was the outer lands. Mostly the outer lands had nothing but grasslands, forests, and deserts.

"The density of the life energy in the outerlands is very limited, your majesty and besides if the kings or emperor made a move to take over the outer lands, there's a chance of the nonhumans retaliate against the empire or even forming an alliance amongst them, since now they have nowhere to live other than the outerlands" Lord Clemo explained

"Let's just say, if someone provides shelter and accepts the nonhumans as their citizens, what would happen then?"

Lord Clemo's brows immediately went up when Don asked the question

"Your majesty, are you..."

Don shook his head as Lord Clemo sighed in relief

"As per the law of the empire, no one can stop a king from doing so, your majesty" Lord Clemo paused and went on

"But if a king do that, he has to be ready to face the slave traders, bandits, the other kings who might use this as an excuse to declare war against him and some kings might blacklist the kingdom and much worse things"

"Blacklist?"

"Blacklist means you won't get any resources, help, support or anything from the kingdom who blacklisted you, your majesty and it would be a crime for anyone from your kingdom to go to the kingdoms who blacklisted you"

"That's it? I thought the empire would punish or even send a force against the kingdom?"

Don was really surprised as until now he was thinking that publicly open his borders for the nonhumans would bring the wrath of the empire upon himself

"That was true, your majesty until his imperial majesty's second son his royal highness, Timothy fell in love with an Elf and a Druid"

"Huh?"

"I know your majesty, it was a pretty big scandal then, and because of his son, his imperial majesty was forced to demolish the law that stated no king is allowed to provide shelter or accept the nonhumans as their citizens "