妻子的秘密

The king narrowed his eyes as he looked at me and said: “Princess Cyrilia, Crown Princess Adel, you should know my dwarven kingdom runs on the craftsmen you are currently looking to poach. Are you trying to ruin my kingdom?”

“Ruin your kingdom?” I asked. “I did not come here to ruin a kingdom. You may survive off craftsmen, but I am not taking them all. And I am not forcing them to come with me. They are following me by choice. Second, your kingdom is already in a downward spiral. Have you not seen the homeless filling the streets? What king allows his people to suffer? You make millions to billions of gold per year, yet you still have homeless people begging for money. Why is this?”

“Hmmm? Homeless?” The king looked perplexed. But I do not understand how he would miss such a thing.

“Have you not taken a good look at your streets? Have your officials not talked to you about the problem you currently have with the homeless rate rising? How much money are you funneling back into the kingdom each year? Do you have systems in place to help build new industries? Do you have educational systems to teach new bright minds? All these things are important if you wish to keep your citizens happy and off the streets so that they can provide for themselves. I am not saying this is one hundred percent perfect, but it would keep you from having so many people living on the streets begging for change. I do not know your current crime rate either, but I am sure theft has risen in the past few years.” I laid everything out for the king. I watched as he turned toward the stupid prince with a questioning gaze.

“Royal Father, do not listen to these lies. There is nothing wrong with our kingdom!” The stupid prince yelled out.

“Are you an idiot?” Thurul suddenly stepped forward and bowed. “Royal Father, I gave up my rights to the throne a long time ago and have also given up my family name in favor of joining under Princess Cyrilia’s noble family name. But even still, even I hurt seeing the streets filled with fellow dwarves who are without ale and food. I have only been in the capital for a few days, and I can say this is not how our kingdom used to be!”

“Prince Thurul! Don’t spout such lies!” The well dressed dwarf yelled out. He looked like he was in panic mode now, which was only making the man next to him to look at him strangely.

But sadly: “Thurul, your brother says nothing is wrong, so nothing is wrong. Why are you trying to slander him like this?”

I heard a loud sigh as Thurul stood up and turned to me, and bowed his head: “Lass, please save the Dwarven Kingdom. If my stupid brother and my ignorant father keep going like this, the kingdom is going to collapse.”

I smiled and nodded my head: “So you made up your mind.”

“I have.” Thurul’s eyes showed great determination. I nodded and turned to look at the king. I then took out an orb and held it out, letting it float up into the air. I then cast detection magic and channeled what was being seen into the orb. Video images began to appear in the room. Hundreds of them, most of just the capital but also the rest of the kingdom as well. “This is what you call lies?”

Seeing the images and the people of his kingdom suffering, the king’s eyes turned red with anger as he stared at the well dressed dwarf. “Thordor! What the hell is the meaning of this!?”

“It’s a trick! Royal Father, do not believe a word of this!” The stupid prince yelled out. I sneered as I waved my hand, canceling the images. “You will know if it is a trick if you actually leave this castle and take a good look. I do not know if you were turning a blind eye to this all before, but those in this kingdom who are suffering are greater than you think. Take a tour and see for yourself.”

“No!” The well dressed dwarf yelled out. “Father, this is all trickery! She probably paid these people to act this way!”

“You idiot! I can’t watch this anymore!” A voice came from the shadows causing me to frown. I looked to see a man suddenly appear. He looked human, but he had purple lines on his face. I immediately used appraisal on him.

[Teladeadja]

[Level 800]

“You!” I shouted as I stared at him with cold eyes and drew my sword. “You work with Azengrade!”

“Oh?” The man turned to me and smiled mockingly. “So you know General Azengrade, and you actually lived to be here today?”

“General?” I felt my heart tighten hearing this. If he was only a general, then that would mean many more of these powerful people are on this planet….

“Haha! Ignorant fools!” Teladeadja looked at us as he laughed. But when his eyes fell on Diablo and Iena, he seemed to frown and then looked at the well dressed dwarf. “Your stupidity has ruined everything for me. For that, I will take your soul as compensation.”

Before anyone could react, not even myself, we watched as Teladeadja raised his hand and shot out a green light. The well dressed dwarf let out a horrific scream before his body shriveled up, and a blue light was pulled from his body and absorbed into Teladeadja’s hand. He then turned and bowed to us and said: “Until another time.”

“Diablo! Stop him!” I yelled once I came back to my senses.

Diablo disappeared and reappeared next to Teladeadja, but as he went to grab hold of Teladeadja, his arms passed right through him, and Teladeadja disappeared while laughing. A look of anger appeared on Diablo’s face as he stood there, clenching his fists. “Diablo, it’s fine… We were all shocked by his sudden appearance that we all failed to move in time.”