Chapter 276: The Meeting Continues
"Other than trading, we barely have any other connection with each other. And there"s also the fact that some people believe in their own country"s supremacy. Thinking that their country is much better and much stronger than other countries. And that"s led people especially in the border to keep having conflicts." Albert said.
The meeting has already started, but despite there"s an impostor acting like the real leader of a country, the meeting continues normally.
The other three know that one person is an impostor, but there"s nothing they can do at the moment.
"So, you want to ease the people, huh? How?" Lynn asked.
"How about those people do it themselves? I"m proposing for us to held a battle tournament between the strongest of each country. The winner will be crowned as the strongest. It"s that simple." Albert said.
"A battle tournament! That"s a great idea!" Harold agreed to the idea right away.
"Easy, King Harold. Albert hasn"t finished telling us everything." Henry said.
Then, Albert continues.
"Before that, what can you all tell me about the search of the cult that I had told you two years ago?" Albert asked.
"I don"t know about any cult, but I received a new information about some kind of organization being active in the empire. And there are some Stampedes happening around the empire as well. I don"t know if they happened because of that Evil Cult or not. We"re still investigating it." Lynn said.
"There"s nothing happening in my kingdom! I have told my people to eradicate anyone suspicious for being involved in a dangerous organization. There are many killings, but I don"t remember how much of them died." Harold said.
"Aw, Harold! You"re such a tyrant! As for my country, I received no information about any organization or cult. I"m still working on it. Though, I don"t think there are any traitor around me. If there are, they would be dead already, or will die soon." Henry said.
Albert listened carefully to the report from the three leaders and make sure that he didn"t miss any lies. Especially from the impostor.
"I see. So, no one has found their location yet, huh? That mean we just need to prepare ourselves. Previously, it was Stampede. Who knows what strategy they will use next time? That"s why I"m proposing for a tournament. With the t.i.tle of being the strongest as a reward, people will work harder to be stronger. And they can protect the country if there"s any danger like the Stampede or the cult doing something even crazier. And if we promise them more rewards, there will be even more people motivated." Albert explained.
"Sigh… I"m too lazy for it. But there"s an unknown danger ahead, so I think I will agree to that. What a pain…" Henry sighed.
Then, the four of them had a discussion about the tournament rules. And Albert also told them about the kingdom-wide tournament between universities as a test for the world-wide tournament.
The meeting is over once everyone agrees to sent their representatives, and decided on the location. Further discussion about the tournament will be held again after the Tatrama Kingdom tournament between universities. They will hear the report about the tournament from Albert, and decide if they will follow the same format or will make new rules.
"It"s over, right? Then I will return now. My people will be happy to get a chance to beat up some people from your countries! Ahaha!" Harold said and he left the meeting room.
"Well, as he said. It"s over. So… sigh… f.u.c.k!" Albert cursed as soon as he knows that Harold left.
The room is soundproof. Once you left the room and the door is closed, no one outside can hear anything that was said inside the room.
"I guess Arturo Kingdom has been taken over then." Lynn said.
"He"s good. His personality is the exact replica as the real Harold. But not just that he forgot the secret sign, he also called us Kings and Empress. This cult is too dangerous to be left alone." Henry said.
"I was also suspicious of you, you know? Old man Henry. You said so many lies after all. Well, let"s take this somewhere else. If we stay here for too long, he will be suspicious. You know the drill, right?" Albert said. Then he left the room with Miguel.
After him, Empress Lynn and her bodyguard left as well. And finally, King Henry left.
Two years ago, Albert make them promise to remember a secret sign for them just in case an impostor trespa.s.sing the meeting. Although back then, Albert was still too young and seems impatient. He"s also suspicious of many things after hearing about the future from Roy. That"s why he told them to do the signal no matter what during the next meeting.
Now that he has grown up a bit, before the meeting, he regretted what he did. It was too embarra.s.sing for him. Even when he greeted Lynn the first, his face is red while Lynn has a teasing smile pasted on her face.
But when Harold enters the room, he was lucky to get the others do the signal as he said.
The signal is simple. Those who brings their bodyguard just need to raise their hand and greet the others politely. Being polite is not something that these people do. The four leaders of each country are getting along well. They will be polite when it"s in public, but in private, they all just good friends despite Harold being easily annoyed.
Then, those who are not bringing their bodyguard will act impolite and curse at each other. As for between those who bring and those who aren"t bringing bodyguard, they will ignore each other until the meeting started.
Henry didn"t bring his bodyguard since he wanted to tease Albert for the signal, but seeing Harold didn"t do as instructed, he was actually panicked during the whole meeting. So, instead of cursing Harold, he just kept quiet. That"s also why Albert was suspicious of him.
But during the meeting, Albert knows that Henry is the real one because of his lies.
Henry is an old man who"s already a king since Albert"s father"s reign as the king of Tatrama. And because of the relationship between the four countries are good, Henry quite often visited Albert"s father in the past. And he and Albert get along really well. He"s also getting along with Shirley as well.
It was back when Henry became so busy that he might not be able to visit anymore. He said that he will visit Albert soon who treats Henry as his grandfather. But Albert already able to detect lies at that time. So, Albert knew that Henry was lying, and told Henry naively how he can detect lies. Henry then apologized, and told him to keep his power as secret no matter what except for the people he can truly trust.
That"s why Henry knows that he can just tell lies to Albert, and Albert can deduct the truth from Henry"s lies. And Henry only told lies during his report. Because instead of those who said only lies, those who mix the truths and the lies are even harder to trust.
Those who only spoke lies can be trusted to only speak lies. But those who mix the lies and the truths cannot be trusted in which one is a lie and which one is true.
After they all left, the four of them stayed in their mansion. But there"s an ancient magic tool in the mansion of each four leaders. It can only be activated by a drop of blood of the royalties. This is a secret only told from a parent to their child. Outsiders don"t know this secret. And even if they do, there"s nothing that they can do.
The ancient magic tool will open a door to a pa.s.sage that will lead the royal family to a secret meeting place. The building of this secret pa.s.sage has been agreed by the first leader of this city and the four country leaders.
Albert entered his mansion, and bring Miguel to his chamber.
"Don"t let anyone enters this room no matter what. Tell them I"m tired and need some rest. But if they say it"s something important, give a signal to Sonia. I"ll be taking her with me so if she sensed a signal coming from you, I will return right away. I gave a signal to her this morning to return to this world for a while in case something happened. She should already be in this world. Let"s call her first."
After telling Miguel to stand guard, Albert tapped on the ring on his finger. And soon enough, Sonia appears.
"It was you who gave the signal? I have been waiting at home, you know. Good thing I"m not bored since Daniel is with me." Sonia said.
"Sorry, but this is important. There"s a chance that a whole kingdom has been compromised. I"m going to a secret meeting and introduce you to important people. I will give them a ring each so they can contact me." Albert said.
"…are all those people all kings?"
"A king and an empress. If you want, you can also tell Roy about this and the content of our meeting later."
"Okay. But I don"t think he"s that much interested in it. He will just say that it"s your responsibility as the king and told you to do everything yourself."
"…I guess you"re right. Let"s go."
Albert poked his index finger with a needle, and dropped his blood on the magic tool. Then, without any sound, a pa.s.sage is opened on the floor. The king and the ghost then entered the pa.s.sage.