Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-269

Joshua who had already tried his best to conceal his intimidating aura stared blankly at the captain who unsheathed his sword before he even said a word about anything. The warrior seemed to have gotten used to all these situations already. He did not react even the tiniest bit even after the guard drew his sword.

What did I just say a moment ago?

In the cold eyes of the warrior, the captain of the guard had also calmed himself down. He smiled with a bit embarrassment on his face as he seemed to have something to say—in fact, he also recognized Joshua. After all, the warrior could be deemed as one of the most popular celebrities in recent times. Although it was quite often that someone would attempt to slay a dragon from time to time, one who succeeded, not only slew one but an entire lair of dragons was extremely rare to find. Well, the captain of the guards could not help but draw his sword out because of the intimidating pressure he suddenly felt the moment he saw the warrior. He just could not stop himself from doing it as it was merely his basic survival instinct kicking in.

Of course, Joshua had arrived at the palace before the news could make it to the palace just yet. So he did not know that Joshua had just slain another demon in the Imperial City.

After confirming that the three people on the carriage had no weapons on them, except Brandon, the captain of the guards apologized as he quickly given the permission for the carriage to move on.

"Speaking of that, aren't Ying and Ling weapons too? Although they're actually your servants by name."

Sitting in the carriage, Brandon squinted and looked at the two teenagers who were still trying to hold back their laughter. Then he shook his head and laughed. "You've broken the law, Joshua. This is treason that would require you to leave your head behind."

"Don't worry. I'll not use them."

Upon shaking his head, Joshua did not think it through before he said that. He also did not notice fierce eyes form the two Divine Armaments that were by his side. The silver-haired girl was gritting her small teeth against each other as if her teeth were itchy. In the meantime, the black-haired boy seemed to have something to say. However, he was tongue-tied as he did not know what to say. He could only smile awkwardly for the moment.

This Master of ours… does he not feel self-conscious?!

Meanwhile, after a brief moment, they had officially arrived at the main entrance to Morlaix Palace. They could no longer move forward by the carriage. So the four of them came down from the carriage and walked towards the entrance.

Right before the main entrance to Morlaix Palace, there were also numerous guards patrolling around the vicinity. Those guards looked much more professional than the other guards in black armor that they had met before they came in. These guards were wearing black plated chain armor. They were also equipped with shields in their hands. Each of them had a cross-sword hanging by the side of their waists. They were also carrying handcuffs and poison darts by their waist alongside their swords. As it was already in the middle of the night, these guards looked as if they were invisible when they were standing in the shadows at the corners of the palace.

These were precisely the exclusive elite guardians of the Empire's royal family, the [Mars Guardians]. The [Mars Guardian] was as a hidden class in the game in the pre-existence. Players would require to attain 'Respect' for their Royal Empire Fame in the Royal Empire, and also attain 'Esteem' for their Empire Kingdom Fame first before they become eligible to apply for the Class Switching Quest. The class itself was similar to the combination of a heavy-armored swordsman and a light crossbowman, having the two characteristics where one had a strong body and soul, and also a pair of penetrative eyes that could see far and through many things. Also, the player of this class would also possess two additional special abilities known as the Single-handed Sword Mastery and the Bow Mastery. They could also use magic items and wear heavy armor without affecting their agility while they were guarding their targets. They could get buffed up in regards to their strength and their endurance both at the same time. So they were basically a jack of all things but master of none with a certain toughness.

They clearly knew that Brandon and Joshua were coming. Hence, after they had confirmation that they could pass, the guards took a step back and let them pass.

The agility of these guards was obviously one notch higher than the agility of the other guards they encountered before coming into the palace. When Joshua and the others were walking past them, they were able to hold the urge to draw their swords.

After entering the compound of the palace complex, several servants appeared on both sides of the palace to greet Joshua and the others as they followed behind them. The leading servant stood up to them and bowed respectfully at the guests. "Allow me to take you to the royal library, sir and madam. His Majesty and Master Nostradamus are waiting for you at the library."

Walking right behind the leading servant as they entered the interior of the palace, they went through long corridors and spectacular arches. After taking a stroll around the lavish palace for a brief moment, stumbling into many other servants and workers in the palace, Joshua and the others had finally arrived at an open-air garden.

"I'm sorry, we can't enter further anymore from here."

Upon bowing slightly as she apologized, the servant pointed her finger at the other side of the garden as she said, "Just go straight all the way there. The library is just by the end of this corridor."

Steeping their foot onto the paved pathway on the garden, everyone noticed that there were all sorts of huge and tall statues on the two sides of the pathway. Those were the statues of all former emperors and significant persons. The statues were obviously crafted by the hands of Master-Tier craftsmen. The expressions on each of the statues were so real that they looked as if they were alive.

As they were walking half way through the pathway, Joshua paused. He frowned and looked at the palace in front of him. He seemed to feel an inexplicable presence right in front of him. Meanwhile, Brandon also felt a weak tremble across his entire body. He quickly turned his head over to look at the warrior. Then the two men were looking each other in the eyes and nodded at the same time.

"Is this a gesture of welcoming our arrival at the palace?"

Joshua whispered to himself, "I did not expect that the emperor has become so powerful."

The warrior knew very little about the current emperor of the Northern Empire, Israel Diamond. In the previous life, when the warrior was finally able to come in contact with a person of royal background and also a Legendary tier, Emperor Israel, which people would have been referring him by that name, had already passed away for years. Having closer thought about it, that should only happen in about five to six years later from today. Even though the warrior did not have even the slightest clue in why Israel would pass away, he knew that the new emperor in the Northern Empire was the second prince by the name Dimore Diamond. He had also beaten all of his rivals into succumbing to him with his oppressive strength of Legendary Tier just like how his father did. Well, It seemed like he had inherited exactly the same 'gift' as his father. Like father like son they said. By doing so, he had taken over the power position as the ruler of the Empire Kingdom.

Truth to be told, Joshua knew the second prince much better. He was a hard and fierce man. Back in the year when Emperor Israel had fallen, the Empire Kingdom had descended into chaos. Many princes were attempting to claim the throne to themselves. In the meantime, Dimore decided to take action of his own with his own bare hands. He traveled through thousands of miles, hunting down his own brothers and sisters one after another. At the same time, while humanity was on the brink of being overwhelmed by the dark forces from the Dark Abyss, he also came up with a series of tactical counterattacks that worked wondrously, causing the human forces to be able to drive the dark forces back into the Dark Abyss. Brandon had also advanced into Legendary tier at that time. For that, he had attained the title called 'The Empire Kingdom's Sword'.

The reason why Joshua frowned for sensing the presence right before him was that he noticed that this emperor was on the verge to break through his shell again. He was on the verge of advancing into the domain of Upper Legendary. However, if Emperor Israel could really advance into the domain of Upper Legendary or even its pinnacle, how could he be dead six years later? There must be some hidden story behind all that.

Regardless of anything, everyone had arrived at the door of the royal library of the palace. Thinking too much would not benefit him at all. So it would be better to just meet the Emperor and observe the situation himself. However, before they could knock on the door to ask for permission to enter the room, the door had opened itself.

"Come on in."

The old mage's voice was heard coming out from the room. "We've been expecting you."

Joshua took the lead and walked into the room.

At that moment, he did not see a luxuriously decorated study room. Instead, he only saw that there were countless bookshelves by the side of the room with many precious collections of old books right on top of each shelf. Meanwhile, there was a middle-aged man sitting on the other side of the desk at the other far side of the room, looking at Joshua as if he was reviewing Joshua from head to toe.

That man was tall. His eyes were filled with bottomless intimidation, the aura of an emperor—of course, there was also a psychological pressure that came charging through from the front, causing one to feel a bottomless fear gushing toward him. His face was calm. However, he looked a little curious at the same time. When he was looking Joshua in his eyes, the warrior felt a strong powerful brewing all around him as if the man behind the desk could see right through him.

However, that pressuring force had become nullified before Joshua's power. The emperor was astonished. "Huh?". After all, he had never encountered a person who could actually resist against his aura. "I've never expected that this young man is actually so powerful."

He got up on his feet slowly. The emperor who had a dark-blond hair that went all the way down to his shoulders looked so tall that he looked like a giant in the study room. He was not large enough to be called a giant though. Even though he was in the study room at the moment, Israel was still wearing his leather armor on. Instead of looking like an emperor, he looked more like a warrior who had fought countless battles. His aura did not strike others as a man who possessed the king's temperament who had control over everything. He seemed more like an overlord that could command armies to rule. "This man is worthy to be the new Chaos Guardian. Not only he has crippled the Black Rising, sealing the dimensional door, traveling back and forth from an outer world, he even annihilated an entire lair of dragons. He is undoubtedly a truly powerful warrior."

Israel nodded as he praised the warrior. He seemed to be pleased with that.

"Joshua van Radcliffe."

With a wave of his hand, he stopped the warrior form saluting him. Israel shook his head as he said, "This is not a formal meeting. There are no outsiders here. So you don't have to be so courteous about this. Nostradamus is my teacher. And young Brandon here is my junior. If you want to look at him from another way around, he could be considered as my nephew. Well, we can blame the old man for accepting apprentices anyway he wants without having thought about the consequences. Our relationship is a mess right now because of him. Haha."

Israel seemed very happy at the moment. He did not even have the slightest notion to purposely show himself off as an emperor. However, his presence was still pressuring and intimidating even though he had tried his best to suppress his aura. After all, he was a man who had broken through the Legendary domain.

"That's my effort to help you nurture a new generation of powerful people for your Empire Kingdom, you know." Right by Israel's side, the old mage shook his head and said, "If I really wanted to retire, you would have been the first to disagree with me."

"Hahaha."

Agreeing to Nostradamus's words by merely laughter without saying any word about it, the Emperor then turned his eyes towards Joshua. The two of them looked each other in the eyes for a brief moment. After that, Israel slowly said, "I've met your father, Beirut de Radcliffe. He's a dutiful count, a qualified Chaos Guardian… and you, have done more than he could."

Slowly stepping away from behind his desk, Israel walked up to Joshua. The tall figure of the emperor took a closer look at the warrior as he frowned a little. He seemed to be surprised actually. "You've actually reached the barrier to cross into Supreme… To use the word 'prodigy' to describe your achievement would be an insult to you. So is this the power of legacy? That's truly worthy of its name."

After a moment of silence, the emperor suddenly said, "Would you like to spar with me?"

Joshua remained in silence for a brief moment before he started smiling, revealing the excitement on his face.

Right there, he spoke his first word ever since he stepped foot into the study room. "Your Majesty, that would be all that I could ask for."