Chapter 130: The Letter to the Emperor

In the capital city of Valkar, the sun rose above the sky as birds flew through it. Down in the streets, people bustled around, crowds gathered from shop to shop in the markets, and the scent of cooking spread out from all around the houses.

Outside, children began to play together, running after each other.

Everywhere one could look, there was a liveliness which could barely be seen around the borders.

Unlike the border areas such as the Draven Dukedom, the capital city of Valkar remained relatively peaceful, as no war or any other confrontation could affect the central city, making it the most peaceful city in the Empire.

Completely apart from this peacefulness, inside the Royal Palace the atmosphere had shifted dramatically into one of tense silence, as two guards stood still against the wall beside the door. They remained motionless in their positions, protecting the throne room behind them, where the Emperor was inside.

Just as the silence continued, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the long corridor.

A guard in the uniform of the palace messenger corps was running towards them, holding a sealed envelope carefully in both hands, and the sweat on his forehead showed that he had not stopped even once since he had received it. The two guards at the door exchanged a quick glance, and one of them raised his hand to stop him.

"State your business. His Majesty has ordered that no one is to disturb him this morning."

"I apologise, but this is an urgent letter from the Draven Dukedom," the messenger said, trying hard to control his breathing as he showed the seal on the envelope, a dragon coiled around a sword. "It was sent personally by the Duke, Cassian Draven, and the order was that it must be placed in the Emperor’s hands as soon as it arrived."

The expressions of the two guards changed slightly at the mention of that name. Everyone in the palace knew that the Duke of Draven was not a man who sent letters without a reason, and in the past ten months, every letter that had come from that dukedom had been related to the search for his missing son. The guard on the left nodded to the other, and he knocked on the door twice before pushing it open.

"Your Majesty, a messenger from the Draven Dukedom requests an audience to deliver a letter."

"Let him in."

A voice answered from the inside, calm and deep, without any trace of surprise.

The messenger swallowed hard and stepped inside, and the door closed softly behind him. The throne room was vast and quiet, with towering pillars of marble stretching up to a ceiling painted with the golden banners with the mark of the Velkrath Empire. A long red carpet led straight to the throne at the far end of the hall, where the Emperor was sitting with one of his elbow resting on the armrest and his chin resting on his hand, his eyes half-closed as if he had been lost in thought long before the knock came.

The messenger walked down the carpet with careful steps and knelt on one knee before the throne, lifting the envelope above his head with both hands.

"Your Majesty, this is a letter sent by Duke Cassian Draven of the Southern region. He has requested that it be delivered to you directly."

The Emperor opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the envelope, his gaze lingering on the dragon seal for a moment longer than necessary, and then he lifted two fingers lazily from his armrest.

"Bring it here."

A steward standing beside the throne stepped forward, took the letter from the messenger, and handed it up to the Emperor with a bow. The Emperor held it in his hand and looked at the messenger again.

"You have done well. All of you may leave now. I wish to be alone."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The messenger bowed his head deeply and retreated from the hall, and the steward and the guards stationed along the walls followed after him one by one, until the doors closed with a thud and the only sound left in the throne room was the faint whisper of the wind slipping through the tall windows.

The Emperor sat in silence for a while, turning the envelope between his fingers. Then he broke the seal with a small flick of his thumb and pulled out the folded paper inside, unfolding it slowly and beginning to read the neat, forceful handwriting that he recognised at once as the Duke’s.

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To His Majesty, the Emperor of Velkrath,

I write this letter to inform you that my son, Neo Draven, who went missing ten months ago after the incident near the border, has returned to the Draven mansion safely, without any harm to his body. After we received news of his return, my wife and I confirmed his condition ourselves, and I can state with certainty that he is healthy and unharmed.

According to my son’s account, he had been taken into the Desolate Land by the incident, and he survived there for the whole period of ten months. During his stay, he discovered a settlement of elves hidden deep inside the wasteland, and he lived among them until he could find a way back.

However, there is one more matter which I must report to you as the Emperor. My son has stated that during his time in the Desolate Land, he found humans who were entering and moving around inside the wasteland. According to what he observed, they wore the armour and used the sword forms of the Empire’s standard infantry. I have not yet been able to verify the full truth of this matter, but as it concerns the soldiers of the Empire, I considered it my duty to inform you at once.

I await Your Majesty’s instructions on how to proceed.

—Cassian Draven, Duke of the Draven Dukedom.

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