Chapter 296 296:- Aditya's Absence [I]

Hahn fell to his knees and then looked at Watson and asked. "How are you guys so strong?"

"When you have the Strongest Dragon Emperor as your king, you naturally become strong." Watson wasn't lying. Aditya's presence itself had influenced Watson and others to get stronger so that they could keep up with him.

Hahn then fell to the ground. A few seconds later, his consciousness also faded. For a moment the entire place fell into silence.

"Is there anyone from the Shadow Guardian division?" Two young Dragonians who wore masks stepped out of the crowd. Walking in front of Watson, both young Dragonians first bowed and greeted Watson.

Watson might be Aditya's butler but his standing among the Istarin Empire is very high. Aside from the fact that Watson is the Emperor's most trusted man and also his butler, Watson is also the first Dragonian of the Istarin Empire. Watson is also the former acting Prime Minister of the Istarin Empire. Even though he has stepped down from his role, Watson still held more political powers than the New Prime Minister, Spencer Newman.

Since Spencer Newman currently wasn't here, Watson decided to take the clean-up job into his hand. "Take all the dead bodies to the second laboratory. By this evening I want a detailed report on each of these members."

As the Istarin Empire expanded in size and in power, Aditya also made adjustments to the 7 divisions in the Istarin military. One of the adjustments was opening sub-divisions within the 7 divisions. Within the 3rd division, there were currently three main sub-divisions. Each Sub-divisions had a leader. The first and third sub-division leaders would report to Nathan. The first sub-division created spies that specialized in infiltration. The spies would collect information from foreign Kingdoms, Empires, and factions.

The second sub-division created Shadow guardians that would watch over the Istarin Empire from shadows. The second sub-division reported directly to Aditya. If Aditya wasn't available, the second sub-division leader can report to Nathan or the Prime minister. The Second Sub-Division was the only sub-division that had the privilege of directly reporting to the Emperor. This also meant that the Shadow Guardian division had more power than any other sub-division and compared to any other sub-division more resources were given to the Shadow Guardian division.

The job of the Shadow guardians was to watch over the entire Istarin Empire from the shadows and report the potential threats and any corruption within the Istarin Empire to Aditya. The members of the Shadow Guardians were Dragonians or Dragon Warriors. The members are specially trained in the assassination. In case of emergency, the Shadow Guardians can be dispatched to face foreign invaders.

The third sub-division was a very small division and had only a few hundred members. But each of these members specialized in research. The Research Subdivision experimented with creating various kinds of deadly poisons and creating their antidotes. Another important role of the Research Subdivision was to study dead bodies and investigation of crimes.

Watson then called a few other maids to clean up everything. He then walked up to Riya who was holding Walker.

"Lady Riya, what are you going to do with him?" Watson asked while looking at Walker who had lost consciousness. Watson never thought that one day he would see a Peak 5th-order cultivator being held captive by a beginner 5th-order.

'Then again, Lady Riya, Lady Alicia, Lady Julia, and young master Aditya are anything but normal cultivators. But I still can't help but feel shocked. I wonder how the world will take this news.' It was wildly known and many believed that the Istarin Empire was powerful because of Aditya. But once the news of a Peak 5th-order Dragon Slayer being defeated by a beginner 5th-order elf spreads, the world will know that the Istarin Empire even without its Emperor.

"I am going to punish him a little." Walker didn't know what to say to Riya. Earlier he had seen the change in Riya's personality when fighting Walker. Fortunately, she now had returned to being the usual Riya.

"Lady Riya, please don't kill him. We will need to get some information out of his mouth." Watson wanted to know why the Dragon slayer guild tried to kill their Emperor for no reason. As far as Watson knew, neither Aditya nor anyone from the Istarin Empire has ever harmed the Dragon Slayer guild. It may be true that someone from the Istarin Empire did break the Dragon Slayer guild's rules, but how does it happen that the Dragon Slayer guild suddenly became so courageous that it came to the capital of the Istarin Empire and insulted their Emperor in broad daylight?

Did the Dragon Slayer guild forget the military power of the Istarin Empire? Could something have influenced the Dragon Slayer guild to take this action? Watson feels that there are some stories to this. The elders of the Dragon Slayer guilds are not stupid.

"Oh don't worry. I will be sure to make him speak before I end his life. Just leave everything to me." At that point, Watson said nothing else. He fully trusted Riya and her judgment. Riya is not like Alicia or Julia. The goddess can be very kind when the time comes. But she can also become ruthless and very cruel. Just like mother nature, she changes her personality depending on her surroundings and depending on the situation. She can become the provider. She can also become the grim reaper.

"The party is over. Everyone go back to your work." Hearing Watson's voice, all the Dragonians began to return. Even if Watson wanted to suppress what happened today, he knew that the news was going to spread like wildfire.

"By the way, Watson where is Spencer?" Julia asked as she hadn't seen Spencer this morning.

"Yesterday, His Majesty sent Spencer to the Beast continent to establish diplomatic relations with one of the fox tribes. It might take him a few days to return." To become a global powerhouse, the Istarin Empire needed to extend its foreign influence and connections to other continents. Besides, Aditya had one other reason for trying to establish Diplomatic relations with the fox tribes in the beast continent. And the reason was related to Amber.

"Riya, are you coming with us?" Earlier the girls had left Sophia and Clara in Azure city. Now Julia and Alicia were planning on going back and resuming their shopping session.

"No, I will join you later." Saying that Riya flew away carrying Walker with her. She directly went to Silver Meadow Grove. The Silver Meadow Grove was going to become Walker's torturing ground. The screams of his endless pain will frighten the Magic animals that live there.

Watson decided to report this after Aditya returned but little did he know that Aditya wasn't going to return home any time soon.

The whole day quickly passed, and the news spread like wildfire. This news revealed more information about the Istarin Empire's military.

Meanwhile, after sunset, the girls soon returned home. They are expecting Aditya and Adam to come back when they returned home but to their disappointment, Alicia, Julia, and Riya did not see Aditya's face when they returned. The girls started to get worried. Unless it was something very important, Aditya and Adam should have returned by evening.

A few hours later, the girls sent Watson to go to the Southern region; to the place where Aditya had gone.

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Watson with a few other Dragonians came to the village that was built around the Icy Shattered Ruins. Watson did not hide his identity. The Dragonians carried the flag of the Istarin Empire with them. So the people were easily able to tell that they were from the Istarin Empire. As a result, everyone quickly moved out of the way and not even the gangsters dared to stop Watson.

Watson soon discovered that something was very wrong here. The portal was locked. No one was able to get out or get in. The adventurers and the Rogue cultivators looked very distressed and unhappy.

"What happened here?" Watson asked in a loud voice.

For a second everyone went silent. One of the rogue adventurers walked out of the crowd and replied. "We don't know. A few hours ago, the portal basically stopped allowing anyone to enter. Now we can't enter the portal. No one has managed to get out of the portal as well."

"What?" Watson instantly knew the core problem of the situation. But he did not panic. Being Aditya's butler for so many months, Watson has witnessed so many miracles. Watson believed in Aditya with his life.

"Let's wait for a few hours." Watson decided to wait. Very quickly a few hours passed. The portal showed no sign of opening. Watson and the Dragonians have forcefully tried to enter but no matter how hard they tried, it just didn't work.

Having no other choice, Aditya sent one of the Dragonians back to the Istarin Empire to inform others about this. An hour later, all the girls, Leo, Clara, and Sophie, came. Before the girls came, Watson used his authority to make all the Adventurers and the Rogue cultivators leave this place as he didn't want the news of the Istarin Empire being trapped inside the Ruin. Thousands of Istarin soldiers soon captured the entire village and prevented anyone from getting in.

Bang!

Riya used her full power to try to break the barrier that prevented her from getting inside. After learning that her beloved was trapped inside, the nature goddess has become desperate. She became so desperate that the others had to try their best to stop her otherwise she will continue to injure herself while trying to break something that shows no sign of breaking at all.

"Lady Riya, please calm down. Let's believe in his Majesty and wait a few more hours." Riya who had used up all of her mana decided to listen to Watson's words and wait. But even a few hours had passed very quickly. Dawn was approaching and Aditya and Adam were showing no signs of getting out.

This made everyone very worried and especially Riya very desperate. The Yandere goddess became unstable without Aditya.

Unfortunately for them, this was just the beginning of their dark period.

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