Chapter 44: three kings

"Report!" our lead guard shouted, stepping forward with his spear. "What is happening at the gate lines?"

"The outer Kings!" the scout gasped, coughing up a small trail of dark fluid onto the floor. "The other three corrupt Kings... King Malakor of the Iron Wastes, King Brandon of the Southern Marsh, and King Gregory of the Peak... they just found out about Prince Raymond’s termination! They have combined their elite border armies into a thirty-thousand-man force! They have already crossed our western wall lines, burning the farming towns, and their main cavalry is marching straight toward the capital gates right now!"

The thirty merchant lords panicked completely, letting out loud cries of fear as they started wringing their hands.

"Thirty thousand men?!" the old advisor shrieked, falling back onto his rear. "We are completely ruined! The palace guard force only has two thousand active staff left after the demon war! We have no way to balance that kind of physical force!"

Suzy stood up slowly from the grand royal throne. The intense, unyielding power of her flared up twice as big as before, sending a sudden wave of cold pressure through the entire hall that silenced the crying nobles instantly.

"Silence, all of you!" Suzy’s voice boomed through the high rafters, full of absolute authority. She walked down, stopping right next to my table, her eyes locking onto the bleeding scout. "We are not abandoning this branch. We just took over this kingdom, and I am not letting three outer parasites ruin our corporate margins on day one."

"Thirty thousand customers looking for a forced shutdown," I said, my eyes flashing with intense greed as I looked at the maps. "Perfect. Our new guard staff needs a solid training exercise anyway. Suzy, stay here and lock down the capital defense lines. I will take our new employees down to the main gates and show these three Kings how we handle an unauthorized hostile takeover."

Suzy looked at me, a beautiful smile forming on her lips as she raised her sword. "Go clean out the inventory, Barry. I’ll make sure the front desk is ready for the payout when you get back."

Some time later...

The sun went down behind the outer walls of the capital. Up on the main battlements, the remaining two thousand palace guards were seting up barriers and load the large arrow launchers.

Suzy stood right at the center tower, she gave orders to the city captains. Her pressure was running high, keeping the remaining staff focused despite the massive army marching toward the gates.

Down in the lower courtyard, the lead guard I had just hired stepped up to my side. He adjusted his vest and gripped his short blade tightly.

"The three outer Kings aren’t like the low-level grunts we usually deal with, sir," Victor said,yeah his name is victor :)

Victor was a strong man at the peak of the Genesis level. He knew the military layouts better than anyone else in the palace, which made him the perfect head of operations for this field trip.

"Brandon, Gregory and Malakorare all Ascendant level experts," Victor continued, looking out through the main gate. "They have spent years absorbing dark cores on the border. Fighting all three of them face-to-face in the open field with our small numbers is a total compliance risk. They will simply overrun our defensive lines."

"I don’t plan on a heah on head yet, Victor," I said, "A good manager never fights the customer base directly when he can just cut off their supplier. We are going to audit their warehouse before they even reach the gate line."

I turned my head back to look at the center tower where Suzy was standing.

’Manager, I’m heading out to handle the field logistics. Keep the front door locked down until I get back.’

Suzy’s voice popped straight into my head, full of absolute trust. ’Be careful, Barry. Three Ascendant signatures in one camp is an intense threat. Don’t do anything stupid.’

’Relax, Suzy. I’m just going to inspect their inventory margins.’

Without making a single sound, my human form completely dissolved into a thin line of cool air. Before Victor could even blink, I shrunk all the way down into my snake form, completely invisible form. I slid smoothly down his shoe and coiled myself around his ankle, completely hidden out of sight.

’Let’s move, Victor,’ my voice echoed directly into his mind link. ’Lead the way through the lower forest path.’

Victor was completely schoked but he nodded, slipping out of the side pedestrian wicket gate before the main wall seals could lock. Moving quickly through the weeds and low bushes outside the capital, he guided our small scouting line down the steep hill toward the western valley where the thirty-thousand-man force was setting up their camp for the night.

By midnight, we reached the edge of the tree line.

The sight ahead was massive. Thousands of white tents filled the entire open plain, with hundreds of blazing campfires lighting up the dark valley. Sentries wearing armor were patrolling the perimeter tracks every fifty paces, their long spears gleaming in the firelight.

Right in the very center of the camp sat twenty wooden supply wagons, all of them heavily guarded by a circle of elite knights. These wagons were packed to the brim with high-tier mana potions, grain sacks, and bags of raw magic crystals—the entire lifeblood of the Prince’s incoming invasion army.

’Stay right here in the brush, Victor,’ I sent the mental message down to his ankle. ’If any sentry looks this way, use your speed to trip them up. I am going inside to handle the liquidation.’

I uncoiled from his foot and slid into the high grass. Because my permanent invisibility was running at full capacity, the armoured sentries walked right past my position without noticing a single ripple in the dirt.

I glided right under the axle of the first supply wagon. The crates above my head were buzzing with a magic signature.

[System: Target Assets Identified! Twenty supply wagons filled with Tier 4 invasion rations and premium mana crystals! Total liquid value: 200,000 Gold Pieces! This is the ultimate corporate heist, Barry!]