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Chapter 178

«The Empress is one hundred and seventy years old, but she doesn’t look more than twenty. Why? The book explains it by her powerful ninth phase. It’s weird, though. Everybody gets old…» – The girl in black wondered.

«Starting from the advanced phase, the practitioners acquire a spiritual sense. With its help, they can control the connection of the soul with the body. They can lower or raise their development. This sense undergoes changes, starting from the imperial phase. The practitioners can constantly feel or scan everything that is happening around them. Besides, they can change the development inside the body or its certain parts without affecting the soul development. And only starting from the legendary incomprehensible overlord phase (9), the spiritual sense increases so much that practitioners can control even micro-processes within the body. That’s why they can keep the body young, but they need life energy for that. It affects the general life span, though. But lots of people wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice a few decades in exchange for a longer young age.» – Kyon instructed her.

In his understanding, there is no life energy. It just makes it easier to explain things. In fact, the overlords (9) can forcibly increase the body’s metabolism with the help of the soul. As a result, all the processes get faster, the cells regenerate more often, and the body stays young. In this case, the telomeres (the sequences at the end of each chromosome that show the general level of organism vitality) shorten faster than usual, the cells eventually reach their division limit. The body eventually dies from sudden organ failure, although it will look young and beautiful until the very end.

«That is… Empress Lanatelle is in the ninth phase of development?» – The girl asked with subtle despair in her voice.

«I don’t think so.»

«Then how does she manage to stay young?»

«There are lots of different ways: artifacts, medicine, unique bodies… There even exist enchanted things and formations that make you look young.» – Kyon saw her silent question and decided not to keep the girl in suspense. – «We can’t know the exact answer, but there is evidence that her unique body is of “S” rank, and, most likely, it gives her a youthful look and prolongs her life.»

«Isn’t she in the ninth phase? All the books tell the opposite.» – She wanted to make it clear.

Until recently, she had questioned Kyon’s every statement. Now she believed each word he said. He confirmed his conclusions with logical analysis, anyway. She believed him much more than the text in the books. Kyon inspired trust with his knowledge and confidence in what he was saying. The girl was stunned because she had always been skeptical of what people said and double-checked dubious statements.

«You see, the Empress is much smarter than she seems at first glance… I would have believed in her ninth phase myself if I hadn’t come across numerous intricate traps instead of the information that could prove the stage of her development. Someone clever will look for evidence instead of believing the given information without understanding. Until they get into the trap… And then another one, a third, a tenth, and they will finally believe. The strongest people beware of her power. They will never arrange any futile attempts on her life. I found out the truth only because one trap out of a hundred was too suspicious. Taking into account Lanatelle’s intelligence, it couldn’t have been any other way.»

The girl seemed to relax a bit. – «Do you think she is smart? I don’t. I consider her shortsighted. She will be completely out of her mind before she is two hundred. Take her tyrannical, absurd and spine-chilling laws for example. And the generals! Half of them have no talent at all. Couldn’t she find any ingenious military strategists in the whole empire? It’s ridiculous…»

«You greatly underestimate the Empress. She is so smart and cunning that even I, the great and terrible, have to make an effort to outplay her with mind games.» – Kyon actually meant it. Given the thousands of years of his experience in intellectual games, his words would sound very convincing, if the girl knew about his past life. Kyon’s visionary plans would make him face this terrible woman sooner or later. He should be alert.

The girl in black made a tsking sound and shook her head at his exaggerated feeling of self-importance and stupid comment. – «Change my mind.» – She challenged him.

Kyon smiled coldly and spoke in a mysterious voice:

«The one who rules the empire is obliged to look down on everyone and everything. They don’t only govern, instruct, regulate global economic processes and politics as a whole but also control the minds of their subjects and enemies. Lanatelle does a great job. People see her as an authoritative ruler whose power is unlimited. She is a despot whose laws make everyone tremble. She is cruel and bloodthirsty, ruthless and composed, categorical and authoritative. One order from her, and anyone can be executed in the central square because of a wrong look or a slip of the tongue. No rank or higher position can save from terrible imminent death. A minor mistake in the letter killed Gritsin, the respected the Deputy Minister of Finance in Rosarrio. The imperial informants wake up in a cold sweat and turn gray in a couple of days in fear to misinterpret the information they get from spies or other sources. If the tyrant has granted an audience to someone, they will spare no efforts or resources to fulfill her orders. Some of them will commit suicide or flee the empire to save their skin if they realize that they fall short of her expectations. This woman inspires primal fear. Everyone is afraid of her, her people as well as enemies. Her attempt to control the minds has been successful. More than that, she never pretends to be who she isn’t… She is who she is.»

The girl looked down, clenching her fists under the table.

«I only mentioned the examples of how she intimidates others. Let me give you another one… Almost every Rosarryan considers the first general an incredible hero. He is smart and valiant. All the information that says the opposite gets destroyed…»

The girl frowned thoughtfully.

«However, you can find a book by a little-known author in the elite library that reveals what a tyrant the general really is. He is no hero or brilliant commander. He is a mediocre strategist with average skills. It turns out the information is not totally controlled. Someone must have left a little hint for those who seek to find. Of course, it’s a trap. But there’s more… The book conceals another truth: the general acts in the interests of his family. It only confirms that the Empress is inept and lacks the intelligence to govern, therefore, it’s best to keep your expectations low. Say, she is strong, powerful and terrible but not as smart as a ruler. People underestimate her but fear her power at the same time.»

The girl listened carefully to Kyon. She had a bad feeling when she saw his black eyes sparkle like storm clouds.

«…And only the smartest, a handful in the big world will realize that the three misleading traps call to underestimate Lanatelle’s intelligence. Those who see the truth understand how dangerous she is. They will stay away from this insidious woman.»

«If Richard were a worthless general, everyone would understand what the hell it’s all about. But he isn’t so bad, he’s just unacquainted with intricacies of military maneuver. The Empress seem to be more interested in loyal and strong people than gifted and willful ones. That’s the opinion she had created of herself in the eyes of her enemies. That’s who the Empress of Rozzario is.» – Kyon finished the tirade looking at the girl’s lips slightly open from shock. He had achieved his goal. He accepted the challenge and was victorious! He impressed the unattainable, eternally cold and distant lady. It felt nice.

«She… She is very dangerous.» – The girl in black said with bated breath. – «Is there any more evidence of her intelligence?» – She asked, anxious to hear a negative answer.

«There are many traps and schemes that help her instill in mind anything she wants. However, controlling the opinions of her enemies is one thing, but what about her servants? She can’t control everything by herself. And it’s time for the most striking example: the zeroth general.»

Her beautiful eyes framed by thick eyelashes opened wide in amazement. – «But… Aren’t there twelve generals?..»

«There aren’t. Though… There seem to be. I called him the zeroth general because it sounds nice. He is more authoritative than all the other generals combined. In fact, he has nothing to do with military affairs. He is the secret ruler of the capital, a dark, unknown person who has a professional army of assassins under his command. They can easily crush the army of any other general in a minimum of time with minimal loss. Would you like to learn more?» – Kyon asked, testing the waters.

«Yes… Go on.» – The girl nodded. She couldn’t conceal the spark of interest in her eyes.

«I guess he is damn smart but inferior in intelligence to the Empress, otherwise she would not have appointed him to this responsible position. If a servant is smarter than the master, no good will ever come out of it. She understands it perfectly well.»

«Are you sure that he exists? Why?»

«Only those who have studied the history of Rosarrio all their lives can see the gaps or missed puzzles pieces. After studying all the books in the library and I can see what others don’t. I can give you an example of his existence: ten years ago, there existed the Weber family in Dantes, the capital of the empire. They held the first position in the ranking as the most powerful family.»

(AC: Let me remind you that the human race has seven empires, each comprising a certain number of kingdoms with the imperial capital where the imperial elite is concentrated. Dantes (0) is the capital of Rosarrio. The Webers took the first place right after the royal family of the Russells (0). This pattern is repeated in the kingdom of the Iron Throne (5) with the Stones (1) and the Grands (0).)

The girl held her breath, her face frozen and serious.

«…A powerful and most influential family. Everyone respected them. The Webers had extensive contacts, especially with neighboring empires. And all of a sudden, one lovely evening, the Empress gave a cold-blooded order to destroy the Webers up the ninth degree relatives. They cut out all family members with no exception. No one was spared: the children as well as the elderly, even those who had married to other families. It was a bloody purge of all those who had a direct or indirect relation to the name Weber, a tragedy worthy of imperial mourning. People were shocked. No one could understand what was happening. The families with Weber descendants who lived under different names were outraged. Why did they have to fall victims? It was complete chaos…»

«Remarkably, the Webers possessed tremendous power, and yet they were exterminated in one evening. Any general, and even three at once, would need at least a week to complete this operation! But the Webers disappeared over the evening. It was the powerful army led by the zeroth general, secret army carefully hidden from everyone.»

«The response of the government was not long in coming. The very next day, the reason was announced: the Weber family was accused of treason. They had handed over the secret imperial information as well as a valuable heirloom to the enemy. But the fire of chaos kept burning. People demanded the name of the person who had brought forth the evidence. The empress revealed the person who turned out to be a brainwashed scapegoat. Those who were smart enough quickly understood what was going on but said nothing afraid of being killed. They hid the information in the books that I found in this library. It’s incredible, but Empress Lanatelle, who had no respect for other people’s lives, defended her servant, which proved how valuable he was to her. There is no doubt, he is the zeroth general, the secret ruler of Dantes, the imperial city, who leads the powerful secret army.» – Kyon said enthusiastically and froze. – «Why are you crying?»

The girl’s face turned darker than the storm clouds, silver tears ran down her cheeks. The whole library filled with an aura of primal hatred that killed any desire to exist.

Kyon’s heart stopped beating. The sixth sense warned he was in perilous danger. Now it became clear why the girl had been studying the history of the imperial family. He saw in his imagination the girl leaving with her grandfather or someone else abroad, avoiding the bloody massacre. She had been hiding from dangerous people until today. She had grown and yearned to make the zeroth general and Empress pay for the death of her parents. Kyon had touched the most painful string in her soul. More than that, he revealed something that no one should know. He carelessly stepped on an unexpected mine, being completely lost in his desire to impress the beautiful lady.

Kyon realized that he knew too much, and she was going to eliminate him. – {Fuck!} – He quietly climbed off his chair and backed to the door.