The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 548: Finally Found

The Palace Guards saluted as the group came to a stop.

"Your Highness, the King has sent word that he is expecting you and your guests. Please follow us into the Palace, and don’t mind the mess.

A large portion of the city flooded, but we’ve managed to drain it fairly well, and Albroles was designed with floodwaters in mind. There are no basements here to hold on to stagnant water, and the main floors are mostly elevated, so the majority of the city is already back to work again."

Prince Fahad simply nodded, and followed behind them as they entered the Albroles Palace.

They didn’t have to go far. King Gustav, formerly the Viscount Boscom, was waiting in the lounge for them.

"Crown Prince Fahad, welcome to Dagos. Follow me, please. I am told that you have obtained valuable information. Might I assume that this is the source?"

Fahad turned, and realized that the captured mage was still in his expected spot, in front of the guards. But Amie had vanished. How she had managed that while standing in front of an entire unit of Royal Guards was a mystery, but they should have seen her disappear.

They just hadn’t had a chance to say anything about it.

In reality, when they stepped around the corner, she had simply stepped into an alcove and changed her appearance to that of a young girl wearing the uniform of a Palace Maid.

Everyone had simply walked past her without question.

She was still following behind them, carrying a tray of appetizers, the same as a half dozen other maids.

If anyone had noticed that there were more of them than there had been, or that one of the faces was unfamiliar, they didn’t bother to overthink it. The commoners in the Palace had changed so frequently lately, with the purges of traitors, and then the mass exodus during the storm, that it wasn’t unusual to not know someone.

The Royals entered an office, and Amie placed her tray on a cart, which she took from its handler, who gave her a relieved smile and ducked into an alcove to get away from the Royals.

Being directly in the King’s line of sight was never a good thing for the Maids.

You couldn’t be accused of messing up your job if nobody ever saw you doing it. The rest of the maids followed suit, carefully loading the cart, so it was only Amie that accompanied the group into the office.

The Palace Guards locked the door behind them, leaving both sets of soldiers in the hall to guard the room.

Only then did Prince Fahad notice that the maid with them was actually Amie.

No wonder she was considered one of the top assassins of the Duskblade Sect. If she had been here to kill them, they would have just locked her alone in the room with a King and a Crown Prince, based entirely on the uniform that she was wearing.

He was going to have to seriously consider updating the security procedures when he got home.

"Alright. What do you have for me? The message made it sound extremely urgent." King Gustav requested.

"This mage came to us, pleading for Duke Wistover to have mercy on his people. He is from Westleby, and they have recently broken from their alliance with the Rebels.

They wish to rejoin the Dagos Kingdom, and he assures us that they have seen the errors of their ways." Fahad explained.

"Really now? The Lord Westleby was never a fan of me, or of the Royal Family in general. He was one of the most adamant in favour of Prince Kaizon."

The mage looked horrified at the memory of the past.

"Speak."

"Your Majesty. The Lord Westleby is deceased. As are his sons, his grandsons, his nephews, and their sons."

"Really now? So, the people of Westleby really did rise up against their Lords?"

"Not exactly... The Butcher of Wistover paid us a visit during the storm and killed everyone of Noble title, all the Army officers, most of the soldiers, and a few others."

"Others?"

"We believe that he might have targeted a number of men who were known to be particularly vocal about anti-Sorcerer sentiments. The situation is unclear, as the death toll was over ten thousand, but only a handful of civilians were killed."

King Gustav nodded. More likely, someone had seen what was going on and took the opportunity to kill off a few more people that they believed deserved it.

"I have reports of his movements. Now, what are you hoping to gain from the crown with this sudden confession of loyalty?"

The mage bowed his head in shame.

"All of our young men were conscripted into the army. And now, they are all dead. All of them. The entire town of Westleby is twenty thousand women, children and senior citizens, with only a handful of working age men left.

We need support. Something. We’re doing what we can, but the city mostly flooded during the storm, and while we have pressed retired tradesmen back into work, they can only do so much.

Their bodies aren’t up to the task."

The King nodded. "My people will have many more questions for you. However, I don’t see it being an issue for Albroles to send you a support unit to help stabilize the city."

Prince Fahad nodded. "I thought that might be the case. But there is one more fact that, I believe, is even more important.

Kaizon has been using a magitech object to create the clones of himself, and according to this survivor, there is only one more left. As of last tracking, it was in Helster.

The rest were lost when the cities they were in succumbed to the storms."

King Gustav smiled. A genuine smile that melted away the weight that taking the throne in the middle of a civil war had placed upon him.

"Finally, some good news. Once we can eliminate the last of the false Prince’s clones, the armies loyal to him may finally see sense and surrender before they are all dead."