In the great hall, the atmosphere was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Who's gonna tell this king what the hell happened with that attack in the temporary quarters?"

The old king was already ancient, the weakness in his once-powerful voice plain as day.

But everyone present was flat on their faces, not daring to poke the bear.

Only the First and Second Princes stood bowing—similar in age, both middle-aged looking.

The First Prince stepped forward, ambition burning like wildfire in his eyes.

"Father, the attackers have all been put down. According to what we squeezed out of them, their leader was some outsider."

The old king's cloudy gaze fell on the Second Prince.

"Outsider?"

The kingdom's outsider inspections happened to fall under the Second Prince's watch.

The Second Prince dropped to his knees in a panic:

"Father, I screwed up my inspections. I'll take whatever punishment you dish out."

"Cough cough cough."

The old king hacked violently several times, looking worn down. He looked at the panicked, timid Second Prince, then at the First Prince whose ambition was written all over his face.

"Enough. The outsider situation's a mess—this ain't on you."

"Thank you for your mercy, Father!"

The Second Prince was over the moon, eyes wet with grateful tears.

This little show clearly tickled the old king pink.

The First Prince sneered inside—his brother was way too good at this act.

"Boli, why'd you just stop the soldiers from nabbing that outsider?"

"You two working together or something?"

Boli Dotruu—that was the Second Prince's name.

The Second Prince had seen this coming a mile away.

"Dear brother, I did step in,

but I had no clue the outsider you're talking about was actually a retainer for Ember City nobility."

The old king's brow furrowed, looking at the First Prince with serious eyes:

"Noo, is what Boli said legit?"

"That might be true, but..."

Before First Prince Noo could finish, the old king cut him off.

"This whole mess ends here. That attack definitely had jack shit to do with the Ember City noble's retainer!"

"But Father..."

The First Prince hadn't expected this—the old king was actually backing down because of some damn retainer.

The old king suddenly exploded:

"Enough! I'm the king here!"

"Cough cough cough!"

Terrifying power flashed briefly, but it was enough to scare the hell out of everyone present.

The First Prince's face went dark as he bowed his head.

"Whatever you say, Father."

He clenched his fists tight, eyes blazing with fury.

Father was definitely getting old, spooked by some noble's lackey.

So what if they were from Ember City? The Northern Territory was way the hell away from the kingdom—he didn't buy that those nobles would raise hell over one retainer.

'My idiot brother, your hunger for power has blinded you to how the world really works.'

The Second Prince's lips curved up. The more stupid crap the First Prince pulled, the better his own odds got.

....

After the kingdom announced all the attackers had been rounded up, the temporary quarters quickly got back to looking normal on the surface.

Clip clop!

A fancy carriage that had no business being here slowly rolled up.

Soldiers cleared the way, standing guard on both sides, shooing away residents to keep the path clear.

Someone recognized who owned the carriage.

"It's the Princess!"

"What's the Princess doing here?"

"..."

The carriage stopped at just one courtyard. The escorts carefully opened the door and rolled out a carpet.

A woman in expensive formal wear gracefully stepped down.

Drop-dead gorgeous, refined features, every move a thing of beauty.

This was Princess Taff Dotruu of Dotruu Kingdom.

The guard captain pointed to the courtyard up ahead, saying respectfully:

"Your Highness, that's where he's staying."

"Thanks for all your hard work."

Princess Taff's voice was crisp and sweet, with the power to calm troubled hearts.

"Your Highness, you're too kind."

The guard captain's face turned red, not daring to look the princess in the eye.

"Let's head in. Time to meet this retainer of Ember City nobility."

"Yes, Your Highness."

...

In the courtyard,

Ginya was chatting long-distance with her master when she sensed company coming, looking toward the door with confusion.

Several squads of soldiers escorted a knockout woman inside.

"Lord Ginya, greetings."

Taff gave a light curtsy, face lit up with a bright smile, showing zero surprise at Ginya's towering height.

Clearly she'd done her homework beforehand.

"And you are?"

A low voice rumbled from beneath the helmet.

Ginya's human memories told her this woman had to be another 'big shot' from Dotruu Kingdom.

"My lord, this is Princess Taff of our Dotruu Kingdom."

After the attendant introduced the princess, he shot Ginya a dirty look for being so rude.

Dotruu Kingdom's princess?

What a headache. Ginya just wanted to wrap up her master's mission without getting tangled up in Dotruu Kingdom's drama.

Hold on—master said to try trading first. This might be a golden opportunity.

...

Dark Mist First Layer,

On the ice plains, roars and thundering hoofbeats echoed across the frozen wasteland.

A terrifying fully-armored knight swung his long lance like he was harvesting wheat, cutting down monsters in waves.

Monsters ran for their lives in pure terror, but even speed-demon frost leopards couldn't outrun the ghost-like Dark Knight.

Countless monster corpses went flying, cold blood painting the ice plains red, the stench of death thick in the air...

This was just one slice of the action.

Across the massive ice plains, terrifying Dark Knights chased down monster packs in different directions, tirelessly butchering for their master...

...

Looking at the whole ice plain from above would show these Dark Knights always fought around a small ice valley...

At the ice valley's heart, a snow-white building had popped up. Six deadly Tulip Dark Knights stood guard around the white structure.

Through the building's windows, you could barely make out firelight flickering inside.

The interior was lined with flame stones—dark red ones that kept the temperature nice and toasty inside.

This was some pretty rare volcanic rock. Before diving into the Dark Mist First Layer, Carlos had stuffed his spatial gear full of the stuff.

Carlos lounged back in a reclining chair, the constant spiritual essence boost notifications in his head like sweet music.

He picked up a cup of piping hot tea, slowly took a sip, savoring the rich sweetness, sighing from the bottom of his heart:

"Now this is the life after all that hell!"

Why had Carlos busted his ass taking the brutal undead equipped knight path?

Wasn't it for moments exactly like this, where his minions handled all the grunt work?

Outside, Dark Knights stood watch—total security.

On the ice plains, tons of Dark Knights hunted monsters while training the newbies—peace of mind.

In the outside world, three retainers were busting their humps completing missions, adding to his grand plans—pure comfort!

All he had to do was sip tea, catch some Z's, and wait for the payoff.

Carlos stroked Blood Silver's snow-white fur.

"Blood Silver, this is how life's supposed to be!"

"Moo moo!"

Blood Silver's eyes curved into happy crescents, contentedly soaking up fresh blood.