An hour ago.
The sunset's afterglow was about to fade, painting a few scattered clouds in yellow hues.
The bell atop the academy's clock tower echoed through the city. Buze stood in the central fountain square with his sword, as if waiting for someone.
This was the mandatory path from the teaching building to the student dorms. If one wanted to intercept someone in the academy, waiting here offered the highest probability.
"Master Buze, are you waiting for Miss Grinya again?" students passing by joked with him.
Buze did not deny it. He nodded and said, "If any of you see her, please tell her I'm waiting here."
"I've learned new techniques. I'm certain I can defeat her this time."
"Master Buze certainly is persistent!" several students exclaimed. Whether it was sincere admiration or mockery of his overestimation of himself, Buze ignored them all.
Carmelo ran past, looking incredibly anxious.
Buze remembered that Carmelo's father was the editor-in-chief of the Kingdom Daily. Generally, if there was any news in the country, Carmelo might know it even earlier than the second son of the Kritov family.
If he wanted to find out where Grinya was, perhaps he could ask Carmelo.
Thinking of this, Buze walked quickly toward Carmelo and stopped him on the road.
"Master Buze, why are you still here?" Before Buze could speak, Carmelo asked him with a look of surprise.
"Should I not be?" Buze was puzzled. He realized Carmelo might have learned something important that he was still unaware of, so he quickly changed his tone. "What happened?"
Carmelo's expression stiffened. He first looked around cautiously to ensure no one was eavesdropping, then quickly pulled Buze into a deserted corner.
"Something happened at the Royal Palace. Didn't your father tell you?" Carmelo asked.
"Something happened?" Buze was confused. "The Royal Palace is heavily guarded. What could possibly happen?"
"Did the Rubite people launch another terrorist attack?" he asked, frowning.
"It's worse than that. It was the cultists!" Carmelo's expression was grave.
"The cultists!" Buze was stunned, his face visibly darkening.
Before he could process this, Carmelo's next sentence struck him like a thunderbolt.
"I don't know how they did it, but the cultists managed to infiltrate the King's bedchamber and took him away!"
"What!" Buze's expression changed drastically as he shouted in anger. "What are the palace guards doing? A bunch of useless fools!"
"I heard the cultists entered the King's bedchamber right in front of Duke Daggs..."
"..." Buze fell silent, his mouth twitching violently, unsure of what to say.
"What's the reaction from my father and the others? And the Church? With the cult reappearing, the Church shouldn't just ignore it," Buze asked.
"Duke Daggs and Captain Wilson are preparing troops to rescue His Majesty the King. As for the Church, they said they would help with all their might, but who knows how long we'll have to wait for their reinforcements," Carmelo said.
"Why would the Church take so long? Shouldn't they be more proactive than us in purging cults and eliminating dissent?" Buze asked, quite perplexed.
"Well, it's because Bishop Sidal, who was stationed here in Yiertaya, was sent back to the main branch for trial because he made a mistake. Currently, there's only a priest named Luen, and he lacks the authority, so things are quite troublesome to handle," Carmelo explained.
"A mistake?" Buze was even more confused. "At this critical moment?"
"I don't know the reason. I heard Bishop Sidal had a mental relapse and performed a very blasphemous act toward the divine statue," Carmelo said.
"..." Buze felt a headache coming, so he lowered his head and rubbed his forehead with one hand.
"Let me process this. Why does it feel like so much has been happening lately?"
Buze no longer had the heart to think about Grinya. After parting with Carmelo, he didn't stay in the academy any longer and walked straight out.
He kept walking until he reached the city gates.
As he approached the gate, he indeed saw the fully prepared army and his stern, old-fashioned father, Duke Daggs, standing silently.
They were marching out of the city in a grand procession, looking as if they were about to start a war.
The citizens in the city, unaware of the truth, mistakenly thought this was a sign of Katar Kingdom's impending war of revenge against the Rubite Kingdom, and they cheered for the army from the roadsides.
But only Buze knew that this was not a war for revenge against a neighboring country; they were only going to rescue the kidnapped King.
For the ruler of a great nation to be taken from his own bedchamber in the Royal Palace... it was truly a laughingstock.
Duke Daggs, who had been silently watching the army, suddenly felt something and turned his head to see Buze walking over. His eyebrows were knit together tightly.
"Why are you here?"
"I heard something happened at the Royal Palace," Buze said. "Was it you who let the cultists into the King's bedchamber?"
Duke Daggs' mouth twitched; clearly, this matter had brought him great shame.
"That was His Majesty's own senility," he shifted the blame naturally. He felt the responsibility certainly did not lie with him.
"Hah, the Kritov family is truly declining with each generation. Thinking back to how brilliant our family's glory once was, and now, the eldest son is assassinated by neighboring assassins, and the head of the family allows cultists to kidnap the King. Is this still the Kritov family I know?" Buze suddenly said with a look of desolation.
Duke Daggs looked at him with a strange expression. "Is that something you should be saying?"
"Fine, Duke Daggs. The face of the Kritov family has been completely lost by you. Now, I shall be the one to bring back the glory that belongs to Kritov!" Buze's desolation vanished, replaced by a firm gaze and his usual flair.
"You want to join the expedition with us?" Duke Daggs asked.
"Yes." Buze nodded heavily.
"You are still too young. You won't be able to handle..." Duke Daggs was about to discourage Buze when an ominous wind, mixed with sobs and moans, swept in from outside the city.
Duke Daggs froze in place.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, he looked up at the sky, which was half-covered by the twilight.
The next one to react was Royal Knight Captain Wilson Sgeer at the front of the army. A look of extreme surprise crossed his face, which then turned into intense unease.
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