Unsealing Emptiness

398 Summons.

Except for Kumaou, who had seen it firsthand, no one realized that those three had entered the next stage.

Even if they did, there wouldn’t have been any reaction since they didn’t know that it hadn’t even been a month since they entered the Nascent Soul Realm.

Kumaou too was more interested in the fact that Ozul did the same thing with Blaze that he had done with Zier. Something about that process felt a little odd to him.

It also freaked out Rose one day when Ozul suddenly entered their room in the middle of the night before jumping on Raven’s bed and placing his hand on her back while she was cultivating.

And moments later when the realization dawned on her that Raven had achieved a breakthrough, her eyes flickered with thoughts kept only to herself.

Before she could strike up a conversation with him, Ozul disappeared just as quickly.

A few days passed while other people were recruited and they continued on with their routine when an officer knocked on their door again.

“It has been a while,” muttered Blaze as the senior soldier read from a page.

“... So, all of you are to report to the commander.”

.....

Ozul was sleeping at the moment, but the other three were cultivating as usual. They immediately stood up, ready to leave right away.

Only Ozul took his sweet time before he stood up and yawned, lazily getting off the bed as he approached the door.

Turning around, he muttered in an annoyed tone, “Didn’t you hear him? Stop lazing about and hurry up.”

“But-”

Before Kumaou could retort, he had already walked out followed by Blaze and Zier who knew better than to argue with him.

As they arrived at the commander’s office, the same guy who had been with them during their recruitment, they saw Raven and Rose already waiting for them.

They were the only ones called this time, which Ozul found a little odd. Previously, they would be paired with other weak ones as well. It was also the first time they were directly called by the commander.

The commander frowned when he noticed both Ozul and Kumaou making themselves extra comfortable on the chair. No soldier ever dared to disrespect him like that. However, knowing their capabilities and the Prince’s interest in them, he could only let them be for now.

He took a slow but steady breath before explaining in a deadpan tone,

“The six of you are the best among the recruited grunts. You have proven that not only with your strengths but also by completing every task assigned to you guys. For your efforts, you have also been rewarded well.

Now, you guys are being recognized for your capabilities. From henceforth, you are promoted to officers and will be entrusted with important duties. This will be proof of your identity.”

With that, he placed six medals half the size of a fist on the table.

“Oh~? Does the title of officer give us extra benefits?” Rose asked in her sultry voice as she picked up the medal and caressed it lightly.

“All of you have the authority to form a group of 5 people under you and be their leader. Other than that, you will be given important tasks and with those come both danger and better rewards,” the commander answered before closing his eyes and leaning back, “You can leave now. The man outside will guide you to your new rooms.”

Ozul exited the room before they were all taken to their new rooms, better ones. The rooms were spacious and in light of their familiarity, they weren’t segregated by gender anymore.

He accepted his little group all being in the same room with him, but it irritated him to no end that Rose and Kumaou both chose to board with them as well. Unfortunately, the room was big enough to accommodate everyone.

With Rose occasionally trying to grab his attention, it became a difficult task to sleep peacefully, but Ozul managed nonetheless.

Eventually, she slowed down in her approach after realizing that it was going nowhere.

In the days to come, Ozul reminded Raven what she and others had forgotten about.

Before departing, he had exploited Ember as much as he could and they were not only given better Spiritual Arts and Cultivation Manuals, but she had also thrown in some decent Spiritual Weapons. While Raven had already distributed the Cultivation Manuals and Spiritual Arts, the weapons were lying useless in her Spatial Ring.

If he were to answer honestly, he would admit that even he had long erased it from his memory.

During the time of their recruitment expedition to slay the Black Horned Foxes haunting the northern areas, only Zier among the three could try to hinder their leader when it was charging straight at them.

Only he had a weapon on him that allowed him some fighting flexibility.

Raven kept the three daggers, one of which was even a Spiritual Grade weapon, allowing her to course her Spiritual Essence in it to combine and cause a destructive force.

There were even more needles which once again, Zier liked to keep and the rest were given to Blaze who wasn’t really fond of weapons but kept a sword anyway.

With these weapons, their team’s overall strength was raised to another level.

They continued training while being called on missions which, as the commander had informed, were of greater importance to the royal family.

Things like being sent to a county and helping the county lord deal with an emergency or being sent to scout certain areas around their borders. This time, coming across people at the peak of Nascent Soul Realm became occasional. But with Ozul and Kumao being there, there were no hiccups.

Another week passed just like that.

All this while, they weren’t allowed in the Palace even once. Not that any of them tried except for Rose. To say the least, they hadn’t seen the king either. Even the Imperial Prince wasn’t seen after that.

Ozul heard floating whispers that he had once again left to deal with pressing issues concerning the kingdom. As for what those issues were, he didn’t care enough to know. It was probably Embers still fanning the flames.

On this day, however, things changed. He finally felt the presence of that man.

But he was sure that was only possible because the other person allowed himself to be felt. If he wanted to, he could close in on him and kill him before he had the chance to react.

As he stood up from his bed, others turned their heads, wondering what caused him to snap out of his slumber.

Their answer came in the form of a knock at the door as Kumaou also felt the familiar aura belonging to the Imperial Prince.

He grinned in excitement as he felt something finally interesting would happen.

The door opened on its own before they could even reply, showing the Prince in his full majestic visage.

With his kind smile, he stepped into the room, “It has barely been a month and you guys have improved so much. I am happy to see that.”

He was referring to the three who had all tapped into the Soul Liberation stage and were now equipped with quality weapons.

While Ozul was gauging the Prince again, he noticed something he hadn’t before. Previously, he was a bit too apprehensive of his presence that he didn’t dare be distracted, but now that he understood his reasons for keeping an eye on him, he could take his eyes off of him.

And at this moment, he noticed not one but two people in the room with negative emotions directed toward the Prince!

Both Rose and Kumaou held something against the Prince. However, nothing of sorts showed on their faces. They seemed as tranquil as ever on the surface.

‘The prince couldn’t have noticed anything with Kuma. But that woman... she is most likely on his suspect list now,’ he thought while internally shaking his head. Her heartbeat was spiked the moment her eyes laid on him.

For someone at the peak of the Origin Realm, something like keeping track of a heartbeat wouldn’t be much of a problem. Though he wouldn’t be able to tell why she reacted that way since with her seductive nature, he could assume anything.

‘Whatever... that works out for me,’ he thought happily.

After taking care of the princess, if he could bring out the reason for their hatred against the Imperial Prince to light, all of the blame would fall on them. They would be even less likely suspected since they were the Dragon Hatchlings.

‘But now that I think about it, all the weapons and cultivation manuals are also suspicious.’ He thought with regret but there was no point in thinking about that anymore.

They were still the Dragon Hatchlings, there was no reason for them to aim for the princess right?

Seeing no one other than Rose reply, the Prince coughed slightly before speaking,

“My brother, his majesty has summoned you.”

Again, Rose had stars in her eyes, but the others looked at him as if he had more to explain.

“Geez. I now get how hard it can be for those snotty nobles to deal with me. Well, all of you are to wash up and report to the palace gates before dusk.”

With that, he turned around and left the room, leaving them wondering what was going to happen now.

As the Prince got further from the room, his eyes turned cold as a man appeared beside him like the wind.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“Not much, I’m afraid. That Kumaou seemed to have just appeared in a random village one day while the lady grew up wandering the kingdom. It’s hard to press into their origins.”

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he ordered, “Keep searching. Their lack of background only makes it more suspicious.”