Chapter 378
Chapter 378
The royal treasury of the first kingdom in the Rosarrian empire was impressive in its size and grandeur. Almost all the wealth of the country was kept here. Every day, accredited authorities with trusted escort visit this place, among them accountants, craftsmen, alchemists, formacists and even enchanters, but now, late at night, there was only one person in the treasury – Kyon in the guise of Franz, the crown prince-.
The treasury consisted of three levels. The first level was full of different valuable formations: attacking ones, defensive ones, tournament formations, formations for specific functions, and many others. Various medicines were arranged in even rows on the second level, including enzymes, unique body pills, many tons of different herbs, some keys and spheres. The second level was also called the resource department. The third level was of particular importance from any family’s point of view because it usually contained the family heritage: techniques (that required a high-ranking family formation), including movement techniques and those that established a connection with the spirit, alchemy and formacy instructions, and much more. Everything was kept in the original form, created by family masters… The family heritage was the reason the Feruzs flourished. The other two levels were completely renewed every 10-30 years.
There was a protective level before the third one that denied access to anyone without a special formation. It meant that Kyon wouldn’t get there even if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to because Franz had already provided him with the copies.
First, Lovr went to the second level of the treasury with a greedy gleam in his eyes. He found tons of medicine and other resources… Without hesitation, he set about pillaging countless shelves, bags, chests and cupboards. His body of the void regarded certain herbs as low-grade and did not take them as food. He left those on the shelf, the rest he placed in the ring. Lovr had no problems with storage space with spatial rings he had created himself.
In just ten minutes, he had taken whatever he found useful. By Kyon’s rough estimates, he had just become about ten times richer! He had 800 stolen million spheres alone. Together with his 200 million spheres, it was a whole billion! The Stones would have saved this amount of money for hundreds of years. He could buy a small city!
As for the keys (the ones that were obtained from beasts and demons), there were quite a few of them. The failure of Athens in the forest tournament wasn’t the only reason. This resource was always in short supply because it was required for enchantment and alchemy.
Kyon was a bit disappointed as he climbed to the first level of the treasury. He quickly shoved all the formations into rings and left the basement. As he went outside, he gave Pete and another guard a ring (blocked with a timing formation) as a token of gratitude for the recommended Rock Crushing Mountain Stream Fist. Then he left the palace as if nothing had happened. He could not have used the teleportation trigram to get to the treasury with little risk because it had a barrier that blocked this opportunity. Anyway, an advanced teleportation trigram wasn’t powerful enough to escape. There was no point in even trying.
Lovr returned to the hotel room and found his girls cuddling on the sofa, fast asleep. They resembled two kittens so cute and adorable that it took his breath away. It was impossible not to kiss them on the cheeks. Leila’s mouth was smeared with chocolate.
Kyon entered an empty room, set up a barrier to block the signal transmission (he put up the same barrier on Juno’s wrist when he stole her from the guards and enslaved her a second time). Then he began to study thousands of stolen formations.
First, Kyon sorted the attacking and defensive formations in different rings, throwing away those that weren’t worth anything. However, one formation piqued his interest. Judging by the description, the Annihilator could deactivate formations created even by emperor phasers.
If he ordered a formation like this in the Golden Pig guild, they would hardly find a formacist who could create it. It was a curious and unique thing that might come in handy.
Lovr suddenly remembered that he still had Vlada’s subjugating formation on his forehead, which he could remove with Synergy only in a couple of months. It wasn’t worth it. However, he could remove it with this formation! Or he could teleport it outside with a piece of his brain! Anyway, it could stay where it is. He would take care of it next time.
After sorting out all the formations, Kyon placed a whole bunch of keys into a huge bag. He needed them to cast the superior grade of strength enchant on his soul (and therefore his body) that would make him five stages stronger. Kyon knew the exact cost of the enchantment, so it was not difficult for him to calculate that he needed to rob about 20 treasures like this to accomplish his goal!
{Damn it… I was expecting more.} – Lovr thought bitterly. The keys he had stolen were enough only for 5% of the superior enchant! Soul enchantment didn’t come cheap. He had to find a good bargain. If he exchanged his billion spheres for keys, he would have about 15% of the required amount, which meant that he needed to get somewhere another 9 billion spheres and acquire the superior grade of ether! Five stages strength was a significant upgrade. It was certainly worth it.
Kyon put the keys away and took out several tons of medicine. He selected some that might come in handy and ordered the body of the void to absorb the rest. The herbs and the pills in the room began to wither and turn into dust. The microscopic elements rushed to his keys and then into his soul. Kyon didn’t expect that the power (and hence the radius) of absorption had increased so much since his body had completed the 2nd stage!
The medicine worth almost a billion spheres had filled its core with elements by about half a percent! The first kingdom of Rosarrio had been collecting the herbs and making the pills for decades, and all that for… almost nothing. His voracious body of the void was spinning out of control! There is no point in even trying to fill it up until he became the emperor of Rosarrio! And it was only the third stage out of the planned six.
At the moment, Kyon had a total of 1 billion spheres (all his available money), keys for 5% of enchantment, a lot of different formations, a heap of various medicine and a whole bunch of all sorts of things that he had accumulated even before the robbery.
Anyway, Lovr was pleased with his long-term venture of marrying Franz to Haya Feruz. His plan had paid off. He would not have been able to rob the Feruzs’ treasury and study their heritage otherwise. With the help of the Stones’, the Grands’ and the Feruzs’ heritage, he would create a super-quality concealment, treatment, and teleportation technique.
What did the Feruzs go wrong to make Lovr rob them so diligently and mercilessly? It wasn’t only because Princess Haya, the heiress to the throne, once ordered her knight to kill him. The real reason was simple. They were accidental victims on Kyon’s way to becoming stronger. Anyway, the Feruzs weren’t going to go bankrupt. According to Franz, the royal family had reserve funds (which was only logical), so they wouldn’t be drowning in debt until the next tax collection. They hadn’t lost their heritage, the fundamental pillar of any family, and it was the only thing that mattered. In Kyon’s opinion, the economic collapse and the lack of resources for the youth was just insignificant temporary sacrifice. The day he gained power, Kyon would pay back his “little” debt with a high interest rate. In the worst-case scenario, i.e., if he died, his debt wouldn’t matter to him anymore. No life, no worries. He wouldn’t win the bid he place on the Feruzs in that case.
…
Half an hour after Franz left, the access to the crown prince’s gift was finally open. The guards looked inside the ring and found two bags with a million spheres each and one single nephrite with a visual formation that showed the crown prince seated in the armchair, his fingers intertwined. He said that the guards had 2 choices: they could disperse the family formations to avoid being tracked down and run away with their families, or they could take responsibility and get executed. As he said this, “Franz” took off the mask, revealing a completely unfamiliar face and added that he had ransacked the treasury half an hour before.
The shocked guards rushed into the treasury with eyes wide open and ascertained the truth. Everything was lost! They were done! They had let the impostor inside without checking the formation! He didn’t even have an escort, although even the prince should have one according to the charter! They were in for torture and execution! There was no doubt about that!
«Pete, I don’t know about you, but I want to live! It’s still late at night, and we have two hours before the shift changes! If we run away, we will have a chance to save our lives and our families! I don’t want to dier!» – The deathly-pale guard said in a trembling voice.
The other guard hesitated, then nodded reluctantly: «The noble thief gave us a chance… To hell with my pride, dignity, honor, oath! My son shouldn’t die because of my mistake! And you shouldn’t either! We are leaving.»
«Goodbye, my friend! Thank you for everything!» – They shook hands and left their posts. The guards were powerful royal phasers entrusted with protecting the treasury. It was not difficult for them to leave the palace unnoticed.
Thus, Kyon had given the guards a chance to avoid the fate of accidental victims on his way. It cost him nothing to make a formation and give them two million spheres.
…
Literally two hours later, the black level alarm went off. In a matter of minutes, the entire palace was turned upside down. By the evening, almost every Milaner would have heard that the Feruzovs’ treasury had been robbed, and in two or three days, the whole empire would know! This news would be even more shocking than the rainbow sun! No royal treasury had ever been robbed in the whole empire, although there were attempts. The incident with the demons in the Iron Throne didn’t count.
Princess Haya was utterly appalled to hear the news, but even more, she was worried about her father’s health. The king looked like an ashen corpse with an absent soul. The family’s savings accumulated for decades had been stolen overnight! A war with demons would be better than this shame and horror! Only the thought that their heritage hadn’t been touched helped him escape a heart attack. Their family would continue to exist, albeit with an indelible stain of shame on their reputation.
The investigation began. First, they suspected the guards as they were absent from their post, which was simply unthinkable for such a responsible position. How could those who belonged to the family and took vows to serve all their lives faithfully conspire to rob the treasury and escape? It was unheard of! Moreover, the guards were forbidden to meet at their time off, all their conversations were recorded and analyzed to exclude even the slightest possibility of collusion!
There was no way to contact the missing guards. Their last conversation before dispelling the family formation made it clear that the suspects had fled with their families to save their lives from imminent execution for negligence.
After checking the visual formations inside the treasury, experienced investigators fell into a stupor: the crown prince turned out to be the robber! Later, Franz did not even resist his arrest, showing the highest degree of surprise.
Franz admitted having entered the treasury when he suddenly felt the need to go to the restroom, after which he decided to talk to his father-in-law. One call to the king confirmed this information and gave the prince a watertight alibi. It wasn’t him! The high-ranking family members’ database confirmed that the prince did not spend even a minute in the treasury. Then another piece of evidence came up: someone had mixed a powerful laxative into Franz’s whiskey, which was brought to him just before he went to the treasury! When he was with the king, he drank, of course, father-in-law’s whiskey.
As a result, the investigators had the following picture of the crime: an unknown thief had found out that Franz visited the treasury once a week being on friendly terms with the guards. He added laxative into Franz’s whiskey but did not take into account the prince’s poison resistant unique body. The king and princess Haya confirmed this information. They had seen prince Franz take three daily doses of enzymes at a time without consequences (due to his upgraded nervous system). If the crown prince had not changed his mind about going to the treasury after the restroom, the thief’s plan wouldn’t have worked out, but fate was not on the Feruzs’ side.
Moreover, the thief had for some reason saved the guards from the consequences of their negligence.
The investigators put forward other versions, but all of them didn’t add up. The evidence was irrefutable. The facts were obvious. The logic was simple and clear. Franz was beyond reproach. Someone had planned everything well! Someone with access to the Royal Palace. In the end, the investigation came to a standstill.
The green night, the rainbow sun, and now the royal treasury robbery! The third big event thundered throughout the empire. Everyone was afraid that the peace that lasted only nine years after the world war had come to an end. Fortunately, the information about the invasion of 33 demons into the empire had been classified.
There was the only weak spot in Kyon’s plan: they could have given Franz a subjugating formation and thoroughly interrogated him. However, the chance of this turn of events was less than 1%. This humiliating method would be used against the crown prince only when absolutely necessary.
…
~ clip-clop, clip-clop ~ …
A horse with three passengers was rushing towards the capital of the empire. Two dazzlingly beautiful girls were sitting in the front while a pot-bellied man was holding the bridle.
«Car… Car… CARTOONS!» – Leila screamed and covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn’t help it.
«I’ve told you again and again, I will tend to your every whim and as long as I can do it, and I want only one thing in exchange: your obedience! There will be no cartoons and cakes until tomorrow night after your recent tantrum when you started trashing the room! If you keep asking for them, you won’t get anything for another three days!» – Zosimos’ voice held an unusually steely quality.
Leila said, her eyes filled with tears: «But… I didn’t mean to! I was trying to get what I deserve! You can’t be so ruthless and ignore the request of a gorgeous cutie like me!»
Kyon was a kind but adamant daddy: «I had told you in advance that we were leaving for Dantes in the morning, but your selfish request delayed our departure for an hour! Look at your sister. You will have cartoons and cakes if you are as obedient and nice as she is.»
Eve was quite embarrassed to hear that, but she pursed her lips in a pleased smile. It felt so good to be a role model for her capricious “elder” sister.
«I… I will try…» – Leila mumbled quietly. Something told her that she should get whatever she wanted. It was the law. It had been this way before she lost memory. However, Zosimos was inexorable! And he dared to call himself her father? It was highly doubtful! The blow to her self-esteem was unbearably painful.
Kyon wasn’t going to give up. He understood that children grow up to be capricious if their brazen behavior pattern succeeds. If he let Lelila get what she wanted through tantrums, sooner or later, it would become a habit. It would also affect Eve, who would never act like this by virtue of her character. There would be complete chaos.
And yet, Kyon didn’t intend to treat his “daughters” as Triana in the sense that they had to earn it first (like earning points). He wanted to turn their lives into a fairy tale, but their disobedience would turn it into a dull reality.