Chapter 91
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After having worked in the Ciral Royal Palace for a week the two spies were able to provide Ben with a list of trustworthy people. Through eavesdropping, rumors, and investigations they were able to find people who could be trusted and have remained loyal to the Ciral Kingdom. These were loyal people who held the positions of assistants, officials, and military officers in the Ciral Royal Palace.
As Ben looked over the list a certain military officer's name caught his attention. This young military officer's name is Triston Whitaker and he had the same surname as the king of Ciral.
The female spy told Ben what she had heard about Triston from working with the maids in the royal quarters who were close to the king every day. This young military officer named Triston Whitaker was the cousin of the king and son of the king's uncle who had talked the young king into delegating the king's power to the palace officials.
Triston Whitaker had grown up with the king and they were not only cousins but childhood friends. The current king Gerald Whitaker and his cousin Triston Whitaker remained close friends all their lives.
As they grew older the two cousins did not spend as much time together. Gerald was being groomed to become the next king heir for when his father stepped down and Triston had joined the military officer school and struggled his way up in the ranks to become a high ranking military officer.
The two cousins may have been separated due to their duties but they would still get together on occasion to see how things were going with one another.
Triston's close relationship to his cousin kept him loyal to the throne and he never accepted bribes or payoffs. He could never bring himself to do anything that would hurt his family name or friendship with his cousin. Triston was soon recognized as a person to not approach with illegal offers unless you wanted to be arrested for bribery or treason.
Ben had Athena mark Triston on the map and tracked his movements. Late at night when Triston had left the royal palace and went home for the night, Ben went to his estate. He had thought about sneaking into Triston's villa and confronting him personally but this might put him on guard and he might even choose to attack Ben.
Ben needed Triston to trust him so he chose to just walk up to the door and knock. A butler with a guard behind him soon came to answer the door. It was later in the day so they seemed to be cautious when they came to see who would be visiting so late.
Ben smiled at the two and began to explain his visit. "Hello I am Archduke Ben King from the Aregard kingdom and I have obtained important information and written records now in my possession pertaining to corrupt officials in the Wolfmere royal palace who are working against the king. I believe sir Triston Whitaker would be very interested in these records and stopping the damage these officials are doing to the kingdom. I have just opened a new business in the city and this is the address he can come visit me tomorrow at any time. Please inform him if he does not come tomorrow I will search out someone else who will be interested in speaking with me."
Ben passed the butler a slip of paper with his store address and left without waiting for him to respond.
If worse came to worse Ben could always just walk right into the throne room and directly approach the king but he did not want to make an enemy of the Ciral Kingdom. If it came to that he would have to abandon his plans with linking his roads with Ciral. His only remaining option would be to invade Trareniel so that he could reopen the borders to allow trade with Aregard to resume.
The next day Ben's new Wolfmere store continued, as usual, they were now developing a customer base and there was only one Merchant outside handing out free fruit and vegetable samples to the passing shoppers. The other Merchants were now inside keeping busy helping the flow of customers who had tried or heard of Ben's spirit foods.
Just before noon, a cart arrived out front of the store and a young man hopped down while the coachman pulled the cart off away from the busy store entrance. Ben was keeping an eye on his map and knew this was Triston who had decided to come and investigate his claims.
Ben waited until he came inside and entered the Food Department. Triston must have heard Ben's description from his butler because he walked over toward him when spotted Ben.
Ben came from behind the counter after excusing himself from a customer he was speaking with and approached Triston with a smile.
"Archduke King, I presume, I heard you have ...some interesting information?" Triston hesitantly asked.
Ben shook his hand, "Please follow me. Let's go somewhere a little more private."
The two walked down the stores' central hallway to enter Ben's office. He had Triston sit in the thick cushioned brown leather chair as he walked around to sit down at his desk.
"This is quite the store you have here Archduke King. I do not recall such a luxurious place as this on the main street. If I recall there was once a small business here that sold candles and candle holders?" Triston said as he sat down.
"Yes, I have another store in the capital of Goldcrest exactly like this one. I tore down the old building on this land and recreated my other store here to match it. I thought it would help if people traveling came to recognize my stores by their appearance." Ben said with a proud smile as he brought out a stack of parchments from his desk drawer and neatly arranged them.
Ben looked up from the parchments at Triston and said. "Before we get down to business let me explain a few things. I was sent here as a diplomat of the Aregard King to offer a terrific deal on iron and copper ore to your cousin, king Gerald Whitaker. This deal would allow your kingdom to buy iron and copper for prices cheaper than any other kingdom could come close to matching. When I originally arrived in Wolfmere a couple of weeks ago I explained this all to an official named Gossum."
When Triston heard the name Gossum he scowled, obviously, he did not like this official. Ben noticed his expression but continued to tell his story.
"Royal Palace Official Gossum seemed to think it was a great offer and told me he would inform the king of my desire for an audience. Now, I am unsure if you are aware that the Trareniel Kingdom has recently invaded the Aregard Kingdom and they were repelled losing their entire army and their royal cultivator. Even though their invasion failed the Trareniel King has not given up and he has sealed his northern borders and is blockading any merchants or trade carts from entering into Aregard. This border closure is beginning to hurt the Aregard Kingdom financially."
Triston began to nod his head and spoke up. "We have recently begun to hear rumors about the Trareniel Kingdom's invasion. It was hard to believe at first but my cousin has verified it when I spoke with him. It seems many of our merchants and traders have been sent back after trying to cross the Trareniel Kingdom to enter Aregard. The lower kingdoms are not suited for mining and our country along with Brandomma, Galeran, and Ferrama are dependent on the ores that come from Aregard. Without that ore, we can no longer continue to make tools, weapons, and many of the parts needed to manufacture our specialty products. The northwestern kingdom of Yardom is known to have excellent mines but most of their ore is sold in the two lower western kingdoms. There isn't enough left over to be of much use to our kingdom and it will soon begin to hurt our economy and defenses." Triston replied with a worried tone.
Ben smiled and spoke up. "I have the solution to all your problems but the problem is the Trareniel King has bought off a good portion of your officials in the Ciral Royal Palace and they are doing all they can to prevent me from seeing the king."
Ben passed over the compromising documents he had stolen from the corrupt officials homes to Triston. There were records of the many corrupt acts they were involved. Triston saw documents with Trareniel seals asking the officials to hinder the Aregard Kingdom in any way they could along with the sensitive information they had leaked to not only Trareniel but to the Ferrama, and Brandomma Kingdoms.
Triston's hands began to shake with anger as he read through each of the treacherous records shown to him. He could not believe the information these officials had sent out to the other kingdoms. This information could be damaging to the Ciral Kingdom to the point it would help an enemy kingdom to subjugate them!
When Triston had read through it all he took a deep breath and set the parchments down on Ben's desk.
"Archduke King, would you allow me to show these documents to my father and the King? I promise on my family name you can trust me with these and I will be sure to get you an audience with the king in the next couple of days. I am sure the king will deal with these treasonous officials once he has seen how far they've gone."
Ben smiled. "Of course I trust you with them. I came to you specifically because I had heard you were an incorruptible man who does everything he can to protect his kingdom."
"Thank you for your praise even though I try to do so much we have others like this pulling us down for a few coins" Triston said as he tapped his finger on the stack of parchments on the desk.
"I will send someone here to you later tomorrow to inform you when the king will see you." Triston said as he stood up and grabbed the incriminating records off of Ben's desk.
"I will patiently await the good news then." Ben responded as he saluted Triston.
Ben escorted Triston to the front door and sent him off. On the map, Ben watched as Triston's marked blue dot traveled directly to the royal palace and went inside. He closed the map and went back to helping customers.
After closing the new store Ben used Zoom to go to the Keep and check in with Mythia. He had made sure to stop in every couple of days and see if she was doing well. They ate dinner together at the Restaurant and Mythia told him she had begun taking fifth-grade lessons a few days ago when he inquired about her studies.
Ben tested her and found her reading had improved and she was proficient at math. Mythia could solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and some division problems already. Not more than a month ago she couldn't read or count over twenty now in this short amount of time she had learned so much.
Mythia's physical condition was beginning to improve along with her education. Her body was not skin and bones any longer. She still had not been given a cultivation technique so she wasn't even a Stage one, Level one yet. Even though this was the case her meridians were all open now and the Qi she ingested from the Restaurant food on a daily basis was helping repair and rebuild her emaciated body.
She remained diligent with the supplements Ben bought her which helped her in conjunction with the Qi to put weight on her and rebuild her muscles as she exercised.
Ben was proud of her hard work and praised her for sticking to it. On Earth, it was a chore just to get a kid her age to get up in the morning and go to school but she would wake up on her own walk to the Gym to workout then go off to school. After school, she would come home and review what she had learned or read her books.
Mythia would go over to the Movie Theater, Bathhouse, and Recreation Center on occasion with the people she had met around the Fortress settlement but she never slacked off on the schedule Ben had assigned her.
Throughout the night Ben cultivated in his Qi Chamber and went to his Goldcrest businesses at sunrise to collect the sales money which had built up over his absence. Just after opening time he used the Zoom spell to return to his new Wolfmere store.
They had just restocked the store and opened the doors with his Merchants when a Ciral Royal Palace servant stopped by to tell him the king wished to meet Ben at 12:00 noon today.
Ben thanked the servant and helped out at the store until just after 11:00. He did not have far to travel but he wanted to be at the palace early to make a good impression.
He reached the palace gates ten minutes later and told the palace guards who he was and why he was there. The Palace Guards looked at one another and nodded.
"I am sorry sir but you have been banned from the Royal Palace. Please step back away from the gates."
Ben couldn't believe what he just heard, "How am I banned from the royal palace when the king is expecting me?" Ben asked obviously irritated now.
"I don't know why you were prohibited from entering sir we only received a notice a couple days ago from the palace that Archduke Ben King of Aregard was banned from entering the Royal Palace."
"Let me guess the one who sent the notice wouldn't happen to be royal palace official Gossum?" Ben could see what had happened here. It was obvious that Gossum did not want to deal with his visits anymore so he barred him from entering the palace.
The guards did a poor job of hiding their surprise when they heard the officials name who bribed them but they refused to give Ben any more information.
Ben was having a hard time remaining calm and he began to scold the guards. "Who do you two think you work for? Does Gossum pay your salaries or does the king? Wait I shouldn't ask that question. As corrupt as everyone is in this damn palace you two must make more money from Gossum's bribes than your payment from the king."
When the two guards heard what Ben said they became infuriated. "This is your final warning leave the palace grounds sir or we will drag you off and lock you up!"
Ben was unable to hold back any longer, he was going to get into this palace and these two guards were not going to stop him.
"I forgot to tell you two something not only am I an Archduke whom you have forgotten to address by my noble rank but I am also a cultivator of Aregard!" Ben yelled out as he activated his Aura Assault technique and began to gradually apply pressure onto the two hostile palace guards.
The two palace guards hostile expressions instantly changed to looks of horror as they were forced down onto their hands and knees no longer able to directly stand under the insurmountable pressure.
Ben pressed down until the guards were flat on their stomachs with their faces pushing painfully into the rock-paved road. He did not injure them but they felt as if someone had slowly placed a five hundred pound weight on each of them.
"I do not have any time to waste on you two because I have an appointment with the king. I will release you but do not mistake my kindness for weakness if you attempt to get in my way again I will turn you two into red smears on the ground next time."
Ben walked past the two and released his technique. The two guards were so shaken they remained face down on the ground where Ben left them.
Once he was inside he forgot about them and walked toward the receptionist desk.
"Please escort me to the throne room." Ben asked with a hint of hostility. He was still in a bad mood and did not want to be delayed any longer.
"Can I ask who you are sir? I can get someone out here to help you."
"No thank you, I have had enough with dealing with the assistants and officials around here. I have an audience with the king so I want you to take me to the throne room now."
Ben spoke to the receptionist calmly but as he was speaking he used his aura to begin to apply pressure on the receptionist until he had to grab the edges of the front desk to keep himself standing upright.
"R-rr-right this w-ww-way sir cultivator!" The terrified stuttering receptionist began to directly lead Ben toward the throne room as soon as he was released from the pressure threatening to crush him.
The receptionist never felt the pressure of a cultivator's aura before but he instantly knew what he had just felt from hearing people describe the experience. A cultivator was an existence you did not want to anger unless you were courting death. It was better to show Ben to the throne room and deal with the consequences later.
With hurried steps, the receptionist walked down a hallway and came to a stop. Afraid to speak he simply pointed to the large double doors with a trembling finger. Ben nodded toward the receptionist who ran off down the hallway covered in sweat as soon as Ben entered the throne room.
He was still early but after all that had happened already, he thought it would be better to come here directly before anyone else was sent over to try and stonewall him from meeting the king.
Triston and his father were seated in the gallery below the king's throne. The throne room was similarly arranged to King Sletten's. There was a dais that a wooden throne sat on below the dais were two aisles of wooden chairs facing the throne. This was where the nobles attending court would sit as they held discussions and ceremonies.
The father and son turned to look towards the doors behind them when they heard them open and Triston turned toward his father and said something before they both stood up and walked toward Ben.
Ben could see the young king was sitting on his throne, he appeared to be about the same age as Ben and Triston. He was surrounded by people who were all quietly talking about something.
Ben thought about activating his Enhanced Hearing but the father and son both began to walk toward him.
Triston introduced his father to Ben as they greeted one another near the doorway. They explained to Ben that he was a little early so they would have to wait. Ben apologized and told them about how the guards tried to prevent him from entering the palace. He explained then that he was a stage six cultivator and had given them a demonstration of his determination to enter the palace.
The two of them were surprised to learn Ben was a cultivator. They originally thought Ben was related to the Aregard royal family to have such a high noble rank at his age but apparently, it was due to his cultivation stage.
The royal cultivator of Ciral was an old man who was a Stage Six, Level One cultivator and all he did was cultivate. They almost had to drag him out of closed-door cultivation to attend to his duties. He had been cultivating for over a hundred years and here was Ben a young man who was at the same cultivation stage. If their royal cultivator heard this he would begin to think his entire life was a waste!
The three of them sat down and when the king was free they all went off to a small lounge behind the throne room. Ben checked the map for eavesdroppers and found the area around their room was free of spies. The receptionist must have been properly scared into not reporting Ben's appearance to Gossum or Gossum had yet to make a move.
Ben was informed Triston had shown the documents to his father and the king and they were thankful for providing them proof to deal with the corrupt officials. They also showed great interest in the deal Ben had told Triston about in his store office.
Ben went on to tell them all about how he was a cultivator and had climbed the noble ranks in Aregard due to his cultivation stage. Then he told them about the surprise invasion and how he had used his personal troops to defeat the Trareniel forces.
They were then told about the border blockade which the king already knew about.
"There is a piece of information I have left out until now. I did not want this information to reach the wrong ears so I withheld it until now. I am not only the Archduke of the Aregard Kingdom but I am also the king of the Avalon kingdom."
The three began to look at one another wondering what this Avalon Kingdom could be all about. Maybe Ben was a king of some foreign land they had never heard of?
Ben stopped to chuckle. "I can see your confusion about my kingdom. It is a brand new kingdom I had just established and it is on this continent outside of the borders of the eight kingdoms. My kingdom was established in the northern part of the Wayward Woodlands. Everyone seems to think that Wayward Woodlands extends from your Ciral northern borders up to the northern mountain range along the coastline. Just south of the northern mountains there is a huge open grassland that spreads for hundreds of miles from the east to the west. I have built a fortress settlement on those lands and presently have fifteen hundred well-trained troops guarding that fortress. Unlike the other kingdoms who levy the males from the population to create armies, mine is a permanent army that trains for battle day after day. Their only job is to be soldiers who train to defend my kingdom."
This was unheard of, no kingdom ever kept a full-time army because they were a huge drain on the treasury. You had to feed, cloth, arm, and shelter those men who normally took care of themselves through their full-time occupations.
"I am telling you this so you can be assured we will not have to worry about the Trareniel Kingdom interfering with the deal I am about to propose. I currently have enough military strength to defend my kingdom from any invaders or any kingdom who chooses to try to stop our cooperation. I have already created a road which connects to the Aregard Kingdom and turns south through the entire Wayward Woodlands. The road currently ends around a half mile north of your borders."
"I the king of Avalon and the king of Aregard want to connect that road to your northern roads. This will allow the merchants and traders to freely bypass the Trareniel Kingdom. If you agree to this we will offer you iron and copper ore for prices cheaper than it would cost to actually mine it yourselves."
Ben then took out the documents claiming the Aregard Kingdom has recognized the establishment of the Avalon Kingdom and they had signed an alliance between the two nations. There was a trade contract also present which listed the iron and copper ore prices by the weight or cart load broken down with the Aregard King's signature and royal seal claiming he would uphold his agreement to the above prices.
The king and his relative's jaws dropped at the prices. Ben had no idea how ores were priced so he had the king price them for around what it would cost him to pay the people to just mine the ores without storing or transporting them so he knew no one in their right mind would try to match these prices in an attempt to compete. From what Triston had told him there wasn't anyone else to even try to match them. Aregard was a bigger player in the ore market than he had expected and the lower kingdoms all depended on them.
The young king who had been quiet until now spoke up after he looked over the documents and prices.
"These prices are incredible and the answer to many of our current problems but I just can't send my traders and merchants through the Wayward Woodlands. Even if there is a road to guide them through the forest the merchant's regular guards and mercenaries do not have the strength to deal with the profound beasts who have made the forest their homes."
Ben smiled and as he spoke up, "The forest road I built is protected the entire route. It is enclosed by twenty foot high by three foot thick wooden walls. Every ten miles along the road I have also built stone towers with iron barrable doors that can sleep up 20-30 men in each of them. Anyone traveling the road will be protected from profound beasts and they have plenty of solid defendable towers to spend the night safely. If you like before you make a decision I can take Triston out to let him inspect the road so you have will not have to worry about your subjects safety."
"I am sure the Archd...King King...err the king of Avalon has secured the road properly but I am curious to see it. I have always dreamed of traveling into the Wayward Forest and would love to see what they have achieved up there."
Ben began to laugh after Triston stumbled with addressing him, "I never saw that one coming. It is going to be weird if people start calling me King King from now on. I may have to come up with a new house name. Anyway, I can guarantee Triston's safety if he wants to go and take a look around."
The young king looked to his uncle who nodded. "If you wish to go I would trust no one more than you Triston we have been best friends since we were children and I know you always have the kingdoms best interest at heart. Follow the Avalon King north and report back to me once you've returned. If everything looks like it is safe for travel I can see no reason why we would turn down this deal."
Ben explained they would return as soon as possible. Triston seemed to be excited for the trip so Ben planned to show his the entire route north through the forest.
The King and his uncle remained behind and Ben walked out of the palace with Triston. Gossum had never shown up to interfere with the meeting and when Ben saw the look of dread on the receptionist's face he knew that he had kept his mouth shut.
It was the same for the royal palace guards when they saw Ben and Triston exit the Palace they stood back at a distance and saluted without saying a word or making eye contact until they had passed by.
Ben climbed into Triston's cart which was waiting nearby and they began to head toward the city gate. They left Wolfmere and took the road northeast.
Ben used his map to judge where his road was and had the cart leave the dirt road and head across the grassy plain until they reached the edge of the forest.
Ben told Triston he should send his cart and driver back and he would let him ride one of his mounts back. It would be dangerous to leave the coachman alone on the edge of the woods and they wouldn't be returning for a few days.
The profound beasts would not normally appear until you walked into the forest a couple miles but you never knew when a stray one could come snooping around the forest perimeter.
'We will be on foot from here but it isn't that far of a walk" Ben explained.
Triston smiled with an excited expression as he looked into the trees. He turned to Ben and nodded. They both stepped forward together to begin the journey into the Wayward Woodlands.
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After having worked in the Ciral Royal Palace for a week the two spies were able to provide Ben with a list of trustworthy people. Through eavesdropping, rumors, and investigations they were able to find people who could be trusted and have remained loyal to the Ciral Kingdom. These were loyal people who held the positions of assistants, officials, and military officers in the Ciral Royal Palace.
As Ben looked over the list a certain military officer's name caught his attention. This young military officer's name is Triston Whitaker and he had the same surname as the king of Ciral.
The female spy told Ben what she had heard about Triston from working with the maids in the royal quarters who were close to the king every day. This young military officer named Triston Whitaker was the cousin of the king and son of the king's uncle who had talked the young king into delegating the king's power to the palace officials.
Triston Whitaker had grown up with the king and they were not only cousins but childhood friends. The current king Gerald Whitaker and his cousin Triston Whitaker remained close friends all their lives.
As they grew older the two cousins did not spend as much time together. Gerald was being groomed to become the next king heir for when his father stepped down and Triston had joined the military officer school and struggled his way up in the ranks to become a high ranking military officer.
The two cousins may have been separated due to their duties but they would still get together on occasion to see how things were going with one another.
Triston's close relationship to his cousin kept him loyal to the throne and he never accepted bribes or payoffs. He could never bring himself to do anything that would hurt his family name or friendship with his cousin. Triston was soon recognized as a person to not approach with illegal offers unless you wanted to be arrested for bribery or treason.
Ben had Athena mark Triston on the map and tracked his movements. Late at night when Triston had left the royal palace and went home for the night, Ben went to his estate. He had thought about sneaking into Triston's villa and confronting him personally but this might put him on guard and he might even choose to attack Ben.
Ben needed Triston to trust him so he chose to just walk up to the door and knock. A butler with a guard behind him soon came to answer the door. It was later in the day so they seemed to be cautious when they came to see who would be visiting so late.
Ben smiled at the two and began to explain his visit. "Hello I am Archduke Ben King from the Aregard kingdom and I have obtained important information and written records now in my possession pertaining to corrupt officials in the Wolfmere royal palace who are working against the king. I believe sir Triston Whitaker would be very interested in these records and stopping the damage these officials are doing to the kingdom. I have just opened a new business in the city and this is the address he can come visit me tomorrow at any time. Please inform him if he does not come tomorrow I will search out someone else who will be interested in speaking with me."
Ben passed the butler a slip of paper with his store address and left without waiting for him to respond.
If worse came to worse Ben could always just walk right into the throne room and directly approach the king but he did not want to make an enemy of the Ciral Kingdom. If it came to that he would have to abandon his plans with linking his roads with Ciral. His only remaining option would be to invade Trareniel so that he could reopen the borders to allow trade with Aregard to resume.
The next day Ben's new Wolfmere store continued, as usual, they were now developing a customer base and there was only one Merchant outside handing out free fruit and vegetable samples to the passing shoppers. The other Merchants were now inside keeping busy helping the flow of customers who had tried or heard of Ben's spirit foods.
Just before noon, a cart arrived out front of the store and a young man hopped down while the coachman pulled the cart off away from the busy store entrance. Ben was keeping an eye on his map and knew this was Triston who had decided to come and investigate his claims.
Ben waited until he came inside and entered the Food Department. Triston must have heard Ben's description from his butler because he walked over toward him when spotted Ben.
Ben came from behind the counter after excusing himself from a customer he was speaking with and approached Triston with a smile.
"Archduke King, I presume, I heard you have ...some interesting information?" Triston hesitantly asked.
Ben shook his hand, "Please follow me. Let's go somewhere a little more private."
The two walked down the stores' central hallway to enter Ben's office. He had Triston sit in the thick cushioned brown leather chair as he walked around to sit down at his desk.
"This is quite the store you have here Archduke King. I do not recall such a luxurious place as this on the main street. If I recall there was once a small business here that sold candles and candle holders?" Triston said as he sat down.
"Yes, I have another store in the capital of Goldcrest exactly like this one. I tore down the old building on this land and recreated my other store here to match it. I thought it would help if people traveling came to recognize my stores by their appearance." Ben said with a proud smile as he brought out a stack of parchments from his desk drawer and neatly arranged them.
Ben looked up from the parchments at Triston and said. "Before we get down to business let me explain a few things. I was sent here as a diplomat of the Aregard King to offer a terrific deal on iron and copper ore to your cousin, king Gerald Whitaker. This deal would allow your kingdom to buy iron and copper for prices cheaper than any other kingdom could come close to matching. When I originally arrived in Wolfmere a couple of weeks ago I explained this all to an official named Gossum."
When Triston heard the name Gossum he scowled, obviously, he did not like this official. Ben noticed his expression but continued to tell his story.
"Royal Palace Official Gossum seemed to think it was a great offer and told me he would inform the king of my desire for an audience. Now, I am unsure if you are aware that the Trareniel Kingdom has recently invaded the Aregard Kingdom and they were repelled losing their entire army and their royal cultivator. Even though their invasion failed the Trareniel King has not given up and he has sealed his northern borders and is blockading any merchants or trade carts from entering into Aregard. This border closure is beginning to hurt the Aregard Kingdom financially."
Triston began to nod his head and spoke up. "We have recently begun to hear rumors about the Trareniel Kingdom's invasion. It was hard to believe at first but my cousin has verified it when I spoke with him. It seems many of our merchants and traders have been sent back after trying to cross the Trareniel Kingdom to enter Aregard. The lower kingdoms are not suited for mining and our country along with Brandomma, Galeran, and Ferrama are dependent on the ores that come from Aregard. Without that ore, we can no longer continue to make tools, weapons, and many of the parts needed to manufacture our specialty products. The northwestern kingdom of Yardom is known to have excellent mines but most of their ore is sold in the two lower western kingdoms. There isn't enough left over to be of much use to our kingdom and it will soon begin to hurt our economy and defenses." Triston replied with a worried tone.
Ben smiled and spoke up. "I have the solution to all your problems but the problem is the Trareniel King has bought off a good portion of your officials in the Ciral Royal Palace and they are doing all they can to prevent me from seeing the king."
Ben passed over the compromising documents he had stolen from the corrupt officials homes to Triston. There were records of the many corrupt acts they were involved. Triston saw documents with Trareniel seals asking the officials to hinder the Aregard Kingdom in any way they could along with the sensitive information they had leaked to not only Trareniel but to the Ferrama, and Brandomma Kingdoms.
Triston's hands began to shake with anger as he read through each of the treacherous records shown to him. He could not believe the information these officials had sent out to the other kingdoms. This information could be damaging to the Ciral Kingdom to the point it would help an enemy kingdom to subjugate them!
When Triston had read through it all he took a deep breath and set the parchments down on Ben's desk.
"Archduke King, would you allow me to show these documents to my father and the King? I promise on my family name you can trust me with these and I will be sure to get you an audience with the king in the next couple of days. I am sure the king will deal with these treasonous officials once he has seen how far they've gone."
Ben smiled. "Of course I trust you with them. I came to you specifically because I had heard you were an incorruptible man who does everything he can to protect his kingdom."
"Thank you for your praise even though I try to do so much we have others like this pulling us down for a few coins" Triston said as he tapped his finger on the stack of parchments on the desk.
"I will send someone here to you later tomorrow to inform you when the king will see you." Triston said as he stood up and grabbed the incriminating records off of Ben's desk.
"I will patiently await the good news then." Ben responded as he saluted Triston.
Ben escorted Triston to the front door and sent him off. On the map, Ben watched as Triston's marked blue dot traveled directly to the royal palace and went inside. He closed the map and went back to helping customers.
After closing the new store Ben used Zoom to go to the Keep and check in with Mythia. He had made sure to stop in every couple of days and see if she was doing well. They ate dinner together at the Restaurant and Mythia told him she had begun taking fifth-grade lessons a few days ago when he inquired about her studies.
Ben tested her and found her reading had improved and she was proficient at math. Mythia could solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and some division problems already. Not more than a month ago she couldn't read or count over twenty now in this short amount of time she had learned so much.
Mythia's physical condition was beginning to improve along with her education. Her body was not skin and bones any longer. She still had not been given a cultivation technique so she wasn't even a Stage one, Level one yet. Even though this was the case her meridians were all open now and the Qi she ingested from the Restaurant food on a daily basis was helping repair and rebuild her emaciated body.
She remained diligent with the supplements Ben bought her which helped her in conjunction with the Qi to put weight on her and rebuild her muscles as she exercised.
Ben was proud of her hard work and praised her for sticking to it. On Earth, it was a chore just to get a kid her age to get up in the morning and go to school but she would wake up on her own walk to the Gym to workout then go off to school. After school, she would come home and review what she had learned or read her books.
Mythia would go over to the Movie Theater, Bathhouse, and Recreation Center on occasion with the people she had met around the Fortress settlement but she never slacked off on the schedule Ben had assigned her.
Throughout the night Ben cultivated in his Qi Chamber and went to his Goldcrest businesses at sunrise to collect the sales money which had built up over his absence. Just after opening time he used the Zoom spell to return to his new Wolfmere store.
They had just restocked the store and opened the doors with his Merchants when a Ciral Royal Palace servant stopped by to tell him the king wished to meet Ben at 12:00 noon today.
Ben thanked the servant and helped out at the store until just after 11:00. He did not have far to travel but he wanted to be at the palace early to make a good impression.
He reached the palace gates ten minutes later and told the palace guards who he was and why he was there. The Palace Guards looked at one another and nodded.
"I am sorry sir but you have been banned from the Royal Palace. Please step back away from the gates."
Ben couldn't believe what he just heard, "How am I banned from the royal palace when the king is expecting me?" Ben asked obviously irritated now.
"I don't know why you were prohibited from entering sir we only received a notice a couple days ago from the palace that Archduke Ben King of Aregard was banned from entering the Royal Palace."
"Let me guess the one who sent the notice wouldn't happen to be royal palace official Gossum?" Ben could see what had happened here. It was obvious that Gossum did not want to deal with his visits anymore so he barred him from entering the palace.
The guards did a poor job of hiding their surprise when they heard the officials name who bribed them but they refused to give Ben any more information.
Ben was having a hard time remaining calm and he began to scold the guards. "Who do you two think you work for? Does Gossum pay your salaries or does the king? Wait I shouldn't ask that question. As corrupt as everyone is in this damn palace you two must make more money from Gossum's bribes than your payment from the king."
When the two guards heard what Ben said they became infuriated. "This is your final warning leave the palace grounds sir or we will drag you off and lock you up!"
Ben was unable to hold back any longer, he was going to get into this palace and these two guards were not going to stop him.
"I forgot to tell you two something not only am I an Archduke whom you have forgotten to address by my noble rank but I am also a cultivator of Aregard!" Ben yelled out as he activated his Aura Assault technique and began to gradually apply pressure onto the two hostile palace guards.
The two palace guards hostile expressions instantly changed to looks of horror as they were forced down onto their hands and knees no longer able to directly stand under the insurmountable pressure.
Ben pressed down until the guards were flat on their stomachs with their faces pushing painfully into the rock-paved road. He did not injure them but they felt as if someone had slowly placed a five hundred pound weight on each of them.
"I do not have any time to waste on you two because I have an appointment with the king. I will release you but do not mistake my kindness for weakness if you attempt to get in my way again I will turn you two into red smears on the ground next time."
Ben walked past the two and released his technique. The two guards were so shaken they remained face down on the ground where Ben left them.
Once he was inside he forgot about them and walked toward the receptionist desk.
"Please escort me to the throne room." Ben asked with a hint of hostility. He was still in a bad mood and did not want to be delayed any longer.
"Can I ask who you are sir? I can get someone out here to help you."
"No thank you, I have had enough with dealing with the assistants and officials around here. I have an audience with the king so I want you to take me to the throne room now."
Ben spoke to the receptionist calmly but as he was speaking he used his aura to begin to apply pressure on the receptionist until he had to grab the edges of the front desk to keep himself standing upright.
"R-rr-right this w-ww-way sir cultivator!" The terrified stuttering receptionist began to directly lead Ben toward the throne room as soon as he was released from the pressure threatening to crush him.
The receptionist never felt the pressure of a cultivator's aura before but he instantly knew what he had just felt from hearing people describe the experience. A cultivator was an existence you did not want to anger unless you were courting death. It was better to show Ben to the throne room and deal with the consequences later.
With hurried steps, the receptionist walked down a hallway and came to a stop. Afraid to speak he simply pointed to the large double doors with a trembling finger. Ben nodded toward the receptionist who ran off down the hallway covered in sweat as soon as Ben entered the throne room.
He was still early but after all that had happened already, he thought it would be better to come here directly before anyone else was sent over to try and stonewall him from meeting the king.
Triston and his father were seated in the gallery below the king's throne. The throne room was similarly arranged to King Sletten's. There was a dais that a wooden throne sat on below the dais were two aisles of wooden chairs facing the throne. This was where the nobles attending court would sit as they held discussions and ceremonies.
The father and son turned to look towards the doors behind them when they heard them open and Triston turned toward his father and said something before they both stood up and walked toward Ben.
Ben could see the young king was sitting on his throne, he appeared to be about the same age as Ben and Triston. He was surrounded by people who were all quietly talking about something.
Ben thought about activating his Enhanced Hearing but the father and son both began to walk toward him.
Triston introduced his father to Ben as they greeted one another near the doorway. They explained to Ben that he was a little early so they would have to wait. Ben apologized and told them about how the guards tried to prevent him from entering the palace. He explained then that he was a stage six cultivator and had given them a demonstration of his determination to enter the palace.
The two of them were surprised to learn Ben was a cultivator. They originally thought Ben was related to the Aregard royal family to have such a high noble rank at his age but apparently, it was due to his cultivation stage.
The royal cultivator of Ciral was an old man who was a Stage Six, Level One cultivator and all he did was cultivate. They almost had to drag him out of closed-door cultivation to attend to his duties. He had been cultivating for over a hundred years and here was Ben a young man who was at the same cultivation stage. If their royal cultivator heard this he would begin to think his entire life was a waste!
The three of them sat down and when the king was free they all went off to a small lounge behind the throne room. Ben checked the map for eavesdroppers and found the area around their room was free of spies. The receptionist must have been properly scared into not reporting Ben's appearance to Gossum or Gossum had yet to make a move.
Ben was informed Triston had shown the documents to his father and the king and they were thankful for providing them proof to deal with the corrupt officials. They also showed great interest in the deal Ben had told Triston about in his store office.
Ben went on to tell them all about how he was a cultivator and had climbed the noble ranks in Aregard due to his cultivation stage. Then he told them about the surprise invasion and how he had used his personal troops to defeat the Trareniel forces.
They were then told about the border blockade which the king already knew about.
"There is a piece of information I have left out until now. I did not want this information to reach the wrong ears so I withheld it until now. I am not only the Archduke of the Aregard Kingdom but I am also the king of the Avalon kingdom."
The three began to look at one another wondering what this Avalon Kingdom could be all about. Maybe Ben was a king of some foreign land they had never heard of?
Ben stopped to chuckle. "I can see your confusion about my kingdom. It is a brand new kingdom I had just established and it is on this continent outside of the borders of the eight kingdoms. My kingdom was established in the northern part of the Wayward Woodlands. Everyone seems to think that Wayward Woodlands extends from your Ciral northern borders up to the northern mountain range along the coastline. Just south of the northern mountains there is a huge open grassland that spreads for hundreds of miles from the east to the west. I have built a fortress settlement on those lands and presently have fifteen hundred well-trained troops guarding that fortress. Unlike the other kingdoms who levy the males from the population to create armies, mine is a permanent army that trains for battle day after day. Their only job is to be soldiers who train to defend my kingdom."
This was unheard of, no kingdom ever kept a full-time army because they were a huge drain on the treasury. You had to feed, cloth, arm, and shelter those men who normally took care of themselves through their full-time occupations.
"I am telling you this so you can be assured we will not have to worry about the Trareniel Kingdom interfering with the deal I am about to propose. I currently have enough military strength to defend my kingdom from any invaders or any kingdom who chooses to try to stop our cooperation. I have already created a road which connects to the Aregard Kingdom and turns south through the entire Wayward Woodlands. The road currently ends around a half mile north of your borders."
"I the king of Avalon and the king of Aregard want to connect that road to your northern roads. This will allow the merchants and traders to freely bypass the Trareniel Kingdom. If you agree to this we will offer you iron and copper ore for prices cheaper than it would cost to actually mine it yourselves."
Ben then took out the documents claiming the Aregard Kingdom has recognized the establishment of the Avalon Kingdom and they had signed an alliance between the two nations. There was a trade contract also present which listed the iron and copper ore prices by the weight or cart load broken down with the Aregard King's signature and royal seal claiming he would uphold his agreement to the above prices.
The king and his relative's jaws dropped at the prices. Ben had no idea how ores were priced so he had the king price them for around what it would cost him to pay the people to just mine the ores without storing or transporting them so he knew no one in their right mind would try to match these prices in an attempt to compete. From what Triston had told him there wasn't anyone else to even try to match them. Aregard was a bigger player in the ore market than he had expected and the lower kingdoms all depended on them.
The young king who had been quiet until now spoke up after he looked over the documents and prices.
"These prices are incredible and the answer to many of our current problems but I just can't send my traders and merchants through the Wayward Woodlands. Even if there is a road to guide them through the forest the merchant's regular guards and mercenaries do not have the strength to deal with the profound beasts who have made the forest their homes."
Ben smiled and as he spoke up, "The forest road I built is protected the entire route. It is enclosed by twenty foot high by three foot thick wooden walls. Every ten miles along the road I have also built stone towers with iron barrable doors that can sleep up 20-30 men in each of them. Anyone traveling the road will be protected from profound beasts and they have plenty of solid defendable towers to spend the night safely. If you like before you make a decision I can take Triston out to let him inspect the road so you have will not have to worry about your subjects safety."
"I am sure the Archd...King King...err the king of Avalon has secured the road properly but I am curious to see it. I have always dreamed of traveling into the Wayward Forest and would love to see what they have achieved up there."
Ben began to laugh after Triston stumbled with addressing him, "I never saw that one coming. It is going to be weird if people start calling me King King from now on. I may have to come up with a new house name. Anyway, I can guarantee Triston's safety if he wants to go and take a look around."
The young king looked to his uncle who nodded. "If you wish to go I would trust no one more than you Triston we have been best friends since we were children and I know you always have the kingdoms best interest at heart. Follow the Avalon King north and report back to me once you've returned. If everything looks like it is safe for travel I can see no reason why we would turn down this deal."
Ben explained they would return as soon as possible. Triston seemed to be excited for the trip so Ben planned to show his the entire route north through the forest.
The King and his uncle remained behind and Ben walked out of the palace with Triston. Gossum had never shown up to interfere with the meeting and when Ben saw the look of dread on the receptionist's face he knew that he had kept his mouth shut.
It was the same for the royal palace guards when they saw Ben and Triston exit the Palace they stood back at a distance and saluted without saying a word or making eye contact until they had passed by.
Ben climbed into Triston's cart which was waiting nearby and they began to head toward the city gate. They left Wolfmere and took the road northeast.
Ben used his map to judge where his road was and had the cart leave the dirt road and head across the grassy plain until they reached the edge of the forest.
Ben told Triston he should send his cart and driver back and he would let him ride one of his mounts back. It would be dangerous to leave the coachman alone on the edge of the woods and they wouldn't be returning for a few days.
The profound beasts would not normally appear until you walked into the forest a couple miles but you never knew when a stray one could come snooping around the forest perimeter.
'We will be on foot from here but it isn't that far of a walk" Ben explained.
Triston smiled with an excited expression as he looked into the trees. He turned to Ben and nodded. They both stepped forward together to begin the journey into the Wayward Woodlands.
After having worked in the Ciral Royal Palace for a week the two spies were able to provide Ben with a list of trustworthy people. Through eavesdropping, rumors, and investigations they were able to find people who could be trusted and have remained loyal to the Ciral Kingdom. These were loyal people who held the positions of assistants, officials, and military officers in the Ciral Royal Palace.As Ben looked over the list a certain military officer's name caught his attention. This young military officer's name is Triston Whitaker and he had the same surname as the king of Ciral.The female spy told Ben what she had heard about Triston from working with the maids in the royal quarters who were close to the king every day. This young military officer named Triston Whitaker was the cousin of the king and son of the king's uncle who had talked the young king into delegating the king's power to the palace officials.Triston Whitaker had grown up with the king and they were not only cousins but childhood friends. The current king Gerald Whitaker and his cousin Triston Whitaker remained close friends all their lives.As they grew older the two cousins did not spend as much time together. Gerald was being groomed to become the next king heir for when his father stepped down and Triston had joined the military officer school and struggled his way up in the ranks to become a high ranking military officer.The two cousins may have been separated due to their duties but they would still get together on occasion to see how things were going with one another.Triston's close relationship to his cousin kept him loyal to the throne and he never accepted bribes or payoffs. He could never bring himself to do anything that would hurt his family name or friendship with his cousin. Triston was soon recognized as a person to not approach with illegal offers unless you wanted to be arrested for bribery or treason.Ben had Athena mark Triston on the map and tracked his movements. Late at night when Triston had left the royal palace and went home for the night, Ben went to his estate. He had thought about sneaking into Triston's villa and confronting him personally but this might put him on guard and he might even choose to attack Ben.Ben needed Triston to trust him so he chose to just walk up to the door and knock. A butler with a guard behind him soon came to answer the door. It was later in the day so they seemed to be cautious when they came to see who would be visiting so late.Ben smiled at the two and began to explain his visit. "Hello I am Archduke Ben King from the Aregard kingdom and I have obtained important information and written records now in my possession pertaining to corrupt officials in the Wolfmere royal palace who are working against the king. I believe sir Triston Whitaker would be very interested in these records and stopping the damage these officials are doing to the kingdom. I have just opened a new business in the city and this is the address he can come visit me tomorrow at any time. Please inform him if he does not come tomorrow I will search out someone else who will be interested in speaking with me."Ben passed the butler a slip of paper with his store address and left without waiting for him to respond.If worse came to worse Ben could always just walk right into the throne room and directly approach the king but he did not want to make an enemy of the Ciral Kingdom. If it came to that he would have to abandon his plans with linking his roads with Ciral. His only remaining option would be to invade Trareniel so that he could reopen the borders to allow trade with Aregard to resume.The next day Ben's new Wolfmere store continued, as usual, they were now developing a customer base and there was only one Merchant outside handing out free fruit and vegetable samples to the passing shoppers. The other Merchants were now inside keeping busy helping the flow of customers who had tried or heard of Ben's spirit foods.Just before noon, a cart arrived out front of the store and a young man hopped down while the coachman pulled the cart off away from the busy store entrance. Ben was keeping an eye on his map and knew this was Triston who had decided to come and investigate his claims.Ben waited until he came inside and entered the Food Department. Triston must have heard Ben's description from his butler because he walked over toward him when spotted Ben.Ben came from behind the counter after excusing himself from a customer he was speaking with and approached Triston with a smile."Archduke King, I presume, I heard you have ...some interesting information?" Triston hesitantly asked.Ben shook his hand, "Please follow me. Let's go somewhere a little more private."The two walked down the stores' central hallway to enter Ben's office. He had Triston sit in the thick cushioned brown leather chair as he walked around to sit down at his desk."This is quite the store you have here Archduke King. I do not recall such a luxurious place as this on the main street. If I recall there was once a small business here that sold candles and candle holders?" Triston said as he sat down."Yes, I have another store in the capital of Goldcrest exactly like this one. I tore down the old building on this land and recreated my other store here to match it. I thought it would help if people traveling came to recognize my stores by their appearance." Ben said with a proud smile as he brought out a stack of parchments from his desk drawer and neatly arranged them.Ben looked up from the parchments at Triston and said. "Before we get down to business let me explain a few things. I was sent here as a diplomat of the Aregard King to offer a terrific deal on iron and copper ore to your cousin, king Gerald Whitaker. This deal would allow your kingdom to buy iron and copper for prices cheaper than any other kingdom could come close to matching. When I originally arrived in Wolfmere a couple of weeks ago I explained this all to an official named Gossum."When Triston heard the name Gossum he scowled, obviously, he did not like this official. Ben noticed his expression but continued to tell his story."Royal Palace Official Gossum seemed to think it was a great offer and told me he would inform the king of my desire for an audience. Now, I am unsure if you are aware that the Trareniel Kingdom has recently invaded the Aregard Kingdom and they were repelled losing their entire army and their royal cultivator. Even though their invasion failed the Trareniel King has not given up and he has sealed his northern borders and is blockading any merchants or trade carts from entering into Aregard. This border closure is beginning to hurt the Aregard Kingdom financially."Triston began to nod his head and spoke up. "We have recently begun to hear rumors about the Trareniel Kingdom's invasion. It was hard to believe at first but my cousin has verified it when I spoke with him. It seems many of our merchants and traders have been sent back after trying to cross the Trareniel Kingdom to enter Aregard. The lower kingdoms are not suited for mining and our country along with Brandomma, Galeran, and Ferrama are dependent on the ores that come from Aregard. Without that ore, we can no longer continue to make tools, weapons, and many of the parts needed to manufacture our specialty products. The northwestern kingdom of Yardom is known to have excellent mines but most of their ore is sold in the two lower western kingdoms. There isn't enough left over to be of much use to our kingdom and it will soon begin to hurt our economy and defenses." Triston replied with a worried tone.Ben smiled and spoke up. "I have the solution to all your problems but the problem is the Trareniel King has bought off a good portion of your officials in the Ciral Royal Palace and they are doing all they can to prevent me from seeing the king."Ben passed over the compromising documents he had stolen from the corrupt officials homes to Triston. There were records of the many corrupt acts they were involved. Triston saw documents with Trareniel seals asking the officials to hinder the Aregard Kingdom in any way they could along with the sensitive information they had leaked to not only Trareniel but to the Ferrama, and Brandomma Kingdoms.Triston's hands began to shake with anger as he read through each of the treacherous records shown to him. He could not believe the information these officials had sent out to the other kingdoms. This information could be damaging to the Ciral Kingdom to the point it would help an enemy kingdom to subjugate them!When Triston had read through it all he took a deep breath and set the parchments down on Ben's desk."Archduke King, would you allow me to show these documents to my father and the King? I promise on my family name you can trust me with these and I will be sure to get you an audience with the king in the next couple of days. I am sure the king will deal with these treasonous officials once he has seen how far they've gone."Ben smiled. "Of course I trust you with them. I came to you specifically because I had heard you were an incorruptible man who does everything he can to protect his kingdom.""Thank you for your praise even though I try to do so much we have others like this pulling us down for a few coins" Triston said as he tapped his finger on the stack of parchments on the desk."I will send someone here to you later tomorrow to inform you when the king will see you." Triston said as he stood up and grabbed the incriminating records off of Ben's desk."I will patiently await the good news then." Ben responded as he saluted Triston.Ben escorted Triston to the front door and sent him off. On the map, Ben watched as Triston's marked blue dot traveled directly to the royal palace and went inside. He closed the map and went back to helping customers.After closing the new store Ben used Zoom to go to the Keep and check in with Mythia. He had made sure to stop in every couple of days and see if she was doing well. They ate dinner together at the Restaurant and Mythia told him she had begun taking fifth-grade lessons a few days ago when he inquired about her studies.Ben tested her and found her reading had improved and she was proficient at math. Mythia could solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and some division problems already. Not more than a month ago she couldn't read or count over twenty now in this short amount of time she had learned so much.Mythia's physical condition was beginning to improve along with her education. Her body was not skin and bones any longer. She still had not been given a cultivation technique so she wasn't even a Stage one, Level one yet. Even though this was the case her meridians were all open now and the Qi she ingested from the Restaurant food on a daily basis was helping repair and rebuild her emaciated body.She remained diligent with the supplements Ben bought her which helped her in conjunction with the Qi to put weight on her and rebuild her muscles as she exercised.Ben was proud of her hard work and praised her for sticking to it. On Earth, it was a chore just to get a kid her age to get up in the morning and go to school but she would wake up on her own walk to the Gym to workout then go off to school. After school, she would come home and review what she had learned or read her books.Mythia would go over to the Movie Theater, Bathhouse, and Recreation Center on occasion with the people she had met around the Fortress settlement but she never slacked off on the schedule Ben had assigned her.Throughout the night Ben cultivated in his Qi Chamber and went to his Goldcrest businesses at sunrise to collect the sales money which had built up over his absence. Just after opening time he used the Zoom spell to return to his new Wolfmere store.They had just restocked the store and opened the doors with his Merchants when a Ciral Royal Palace servant stopped by to tell him the king wished to meet Ben at 12:00 noon today.Ben thanked the servant and helped out at the store until just after 11:00. He did not have far to travel but he wanted to be at the palace early to make a good impression.He reached the palace gates ten minutes later and told the palace guards who he was and why he was there. The Palace Guards looked at one another and nodded."I am sorry sir but you have been banned from the Royal Palace. Please step back away from the gates."Ben couldn't believe what he just heard, "How am I banned from the royal palace when the king is expecting me?" Ben asked obviously irritated now."I don't know why you were prohibited from entering sir we only received a notice a couple days ago from the palace that Archduke Ben King of Aregard was banned from entering the Royal Palace.""Let me guess the one who sent the notice wouldn't happen to be royal palace official Gossum?" Ben could see what had happened here. It was obvious that Gossum did not want to deal with his visits anymore so he barred him from entering the palace.The guards did a poor job of hiding their surprise when they heard the officials name who bribed them but they refused to give Ben any more information.Ben was having a hard time remaining calm and he began to scold the guards. "Who do you two think you work for? Does Gossum pay your salaries or does the king? Wait I shouldn't ask that question. As corrupt as everyone is in this damn palace you two must make more money from Gossum's bribes than your payment from the king."When the two guards heard what Ben said they became infuriated. "This is your final warning leave the palace grounds sir or we will drag you off and lock you up!"Ben was unable to hold back any longer, he was going to get into this palace and these two guards were not going to stop him."I forgot to tell you two something not only am I an Archduke whom you have forgotten to address by my noble rank but I am also a cultivator of Aregard!" Ben yelled out as he activated his Aura Assault technique and began to gradually apply pressure onto the two hostile palace guards.The two palace guards hostile expressions instantly changed to looks of horror as they were forced down onto their hands and knees no longer able to directly stand under the insurmountable pressure.Ben pressed down until the guards were flat on their stomachs with their faces pushing painfully into the rock-paved road. He did not injure them but they felt as if someone had slowly placed a five hundred pound weight on each of them."I do not have any time to waste on you two because I have an appointment with the king. I will release you but do not mistake my kindness for weakness if you attempt to get in my way again I will turn you two into red smears on the ground next time."Ben walked past the two and released his technique. The two guards were so shaken they remained face down on the ground where Ben left them.Once he was inside he forgot about them and walked toward the receptionist desk."Please escort me to the throne room." Ben asked with a hint of hostility. He was still in a bad mood and did not want to be delayed any longer."Can I ask who you are sir? I can get someone out here to help you.""No thank you, I have had enough with dealing with the assistants and officials around here. I have an audience with the king so I want you to take me to the throne room now."Ben spoke to the receptionist calmly but as he was speaking he used his aura to begin to apply pressure on the receptionist until he had to grab the edges of the front desk to keep himself standing upright."R-rr-right this w-ww-way sir cultivator!" The terrified stuttering receptionist began to directly lead Ben toward the throne room as soon as he was released from the pressure threatening to crush him.The receptionist never felt the pressure of a cultivator's aura before but he instantly knew what he had just felt from hearing people describe the experience. A cultivator was an existence you did not want to anger unless you were courting death. It was better to show Ben to the throne room and deal with the consequences later.With hurried steps, the receptionist walked down a hallway and came to a stop. Afraid to speak he simply pointed to the large double doors with a trembling finger. Ben nodded toward the receptionist who ran off down the hallway covered in sweat as soon as Ben entered the throne room.He was still early but after all that had happened already, he thought it would be better to come here directly before anyone else was sent over to try and stonewall him from meeting the king.Triston and his father were seated in the gallery below the king's throne. The throne room was similarly arranged to King Sletten's. There was a dais that a wooden throne sat on below the dais were two aisles of wooden chairs facing the throne. This was where the nobles attending court would sit as they held discussions and ceremonies.The father and son turned to look towards the doors behind them when they heard them open and Triston turned toward his father and said something before they both stood up and walked toward Ben.Ben could see the young king was sitting on his throne, he appeared to be about the same age as Ben and Triston. He was surrounded by people who were all quietly talking about something.Ben thought about activating his Enhanced Hearing but the father and son both began to walk toward him.Triston introduced his father to Ben as they greeted one another near the doorway. They explained to Ben that he was a little early so they would have to wait. Ben apologized and told them about how the guards tried to prevent him from entering the palace. He explained then that he was a stage six cultivator and had given them a demonstration of his determination to enter the palace.The two of them were surprised to learn Ben was a cultivator. They originally thought Ben was related to the Aregard royal family to have such a high noble rank at his age but apparently, it was due to his cultivation stage.The royal cultivator of Ciral was an old man who was a Stage Six, Level One cultivator and all he did was cultivate. They almost had to drag him out of closed-door cultivation to attend to his duties. He had been cultivating for over a hundred years and here was Ben a young man who was at the same cultivation stage. If their royal cultivator heard this he would begin to think his entire life was a waste!The three of them sat down and when the king was free they all went off to a small lounge behind the throne room. Ben checked the map for eavesdroppers and found the area around their room was free of spies. The receptionist must have been properly scared into not reporting Ben's appearance to Gossum or Gossum had yet to make a move.Ben was informed Triston had shown the documents to his father and the king and they were thankful for providing them proof to deal with the corrupt officials. They also showed great interest in the deal Ben had told Triston about in his store office.Ben went on to tell them all about how he was a cultivator and had climbed the noble ranks in Aregard due to his cultivation stage. Then he told them about the surprise invasion and how he had used his personal troops to defeat the Trareniel forces.They were then told about the border blockade which the king already knew about."There is a piece of information I have left out until now. I did not want this information to reach the wrong ears so I withheld it until now. I am not only the Archduke of the Aregard Kingdom but I am also the king of the Avalon kingdom."The three began to look at one another wondering what this Avalon Kingdom could be all about. Maybe Ben was a king of some foreign land they had never heard of?Ben stopped to chuckle. "I can see your confusion about my kingdom. It is a brand new kingdom I had just established and it is on this continent outside of the borders of the eight kingdoms. My kingdom was established in the northern part of the Wayward Woodlands. Everyone seems to think that Wayward Woodlands extends from your Ciral northern borders up to the northern mountain range along the coastline. Just south of the northern mountains there is a huge open grassland that spreads for hundreds of miles from the east to the west. I have built a fortress settlement on those lands and presently have fifteen hundred well-trained troops guarding that fortress. Unlike the other kingdoms who levy the males from the population to create armies, mine is a permanent army that trains for battle day after day. Their only job is to be soldiers who train to defend my kingdom."This was unheard of, no kingdom ever kept a full-time army because they were a huge drain on the treasury. You had to feed, cloth, arm, and shelter those men who normally took care of themselves through their full-time occupations."I am telling you this so you can be assured we will not have to worry about the Trareniel Kingdom interfering with the deal I am about to propose. I currently have enough military strength to defend my kingdom from any invaders or any kingdom who chooses to try to stop our cooperation. I have already created a road which connects to the Aregard Kingdom and turns south through the entire Wayward Woodlands. The road currently ends around a half mile north of your borders.""I the king of Avalon and the king of Aregard want to connect that road to your northern roads. This will allow the merchants and traders to freely bypass the Trareniel Kingdom. If you agree to this we will offer you iron and copper ore for prices cheaper than it would cost to actually mine it yourselves."Ben then took out the documents claiming the Aregard Kingdom has recognized the establishment of the Avalon Kingdom and they had signed an alliance between the two nations. There was a trade contract also present which listed the iron and copper ore prices by the weight or cart load broken down with the Aregard King's signature and royal seal claiming he would uphold his agreement to the above prices.The king and his relative's jaws dropped at the prices. Ben had no idea how ores were priced so he had the king price them for around what it would cost him to pay the people to just mine the ores without storing or transporting them so he knew no one in their right mind would try to match these prices in an attempt to compete. From what Triston had told him there wasn't anyone else to even try to match them. Aregard was a bigger player in the ore market than he had expected and the lower kingdoms all depended on them.The young king who had been quiet until now spoke up after he looked over the documents and prices."These prices are incredible and the answer to many of our current problems but I just can't send my traders and merchants through the Wayward Woodlands. Even if there is a road to guide them through the forest the merchant's regular guards and mercenaries do not have the strength to deal with the profound beasts who have made the forest their homes."Ben smiled and as he spoke up, "The forest road I built is protected the entire route. It is enclosed by twenty foot high by three foot thick wooden walls. Every ten miles along the road I have also built stone towers with iron barrable doors that can sleep up 20-30 men in each of them. Anyone traveling the road will be protected from profound beasts and they have plenty of solid defendable towers to spend the night safely. If you like before you make a decision I can take Triston out to let him inspect the road so you have will not have to worry about your subjects safety.""I am sure the Archd...King King...err the king of Avalon has secured the road properly but I am curious to see it. I have always dreamed of traveling into the Wayward Forest and would love to see what they have achieved up there."Ben began to laugh after Triston stumbled with addressing him, "I never saw that one coming. It is going to be weird if people start calling me King King from now on. I may have to come up with a new house name. Anyway, I can guarantee Triston's safety if he wants to go and take a look around."The young king looked to his uncle who nodded. "If you wish to go I would trust no one more than you Triston we have been best friends since we were children and I know you always have the kingdoms best interest at heart. Follow the Avalon King north and report back to me once you've returned. If everything looks like it is safe for travel I can see no reason why we would turn down this deal."Ben explained they would return as soon as possible. Triston seemed to be excited for the trip so Ben planned to show his the entire route north through the forest.The King and his uncle remained behind and Ben walked out of the palace with Triston. Gossum had never shown up to interfere with the meeting and when Ben saw the look of dread on the receptionist's face he knew that he had kept his mouth shut.It was the same for the royal palace guards when they saw Ben and Triston exit the Palace they stood back at a distance and saluted without saying a word or making eye contact until they had passed by.Ben climbed into Triston's cart which was waiting nearby and they began to head toward the city gate. They left Wolfmere and took the road northeast.Ben used his map to judge where his road was and had the cart leave the dirt road and head across the grassy plain until they reached the edge of the forest.Ben told Triston he should send his cart and driver back and he would let him ride one of his mounts back. It would be dangerous to leave the coachman alone on the edge of the woods and they wouldn't be returning for a few days.The profound beasts would not normally appear until you walked into the forest a couple miles but you never knew when a stray one could come snooping around the forest perimeter.'We will be on foot from here but it isn't that far of a walk" Ben explained.Triston smiled with an excited expression as he looked into the trees. He turned to Ben and nodded. They both stepped forward together to begin the journey into the Wayward Woodlands.
