Chapter-18
Royal Commander
Ha-Jin had returned to the Capital after his short visit to Yunxi City. On his way back, he did not have a chariot once again due to the destruction of the chariot on his way there. He was now on his way to the Royal Palace once again as he looked around the street bustling with people and the colorful awnings of the stalls. After a while of walking, he could not help but take notice of the fact that the people seemed to have forgotten about him and his little fight with the Prince of the Empire.
He suddenly remembered about Alex. Where had he been? He hadn't seen him while leaving for Yunxi City either. Though he wondered of the boy, he quickly pushed the thought away as Alex was as strong as him, no way anything could have happened to him. Besides, he couldn't help but be excited about his addition to the Royal Army of the Empire.
While pondering how the people would react, he did not even notice he had reached the Royal Palace until he stood right in front of the metal gates that stood tall in front of him. It never failed to amaze him that a door could stand so tall and also the sheer size of the Palace where the Crownshield family resided.
Two guards stood in front of the gate, dressed in heavy chainmail that showed off their terrifying physiques.
"Ah, Sir Jin! You look exactly like the Emperor had told us!" The guard on the right cried out, bowing his head to Ha-Jin.
Ha-Jin looked at the guard and then pointed at himself. "'Jin? Me?" He asked the guards, looking at them as if they were stupid.
"Yes, Sir Jin of the Royal Blood Silverthorne! He trained rigorously day and night to become a member of the Royal Army today!" The guard on the left cried out. "You are him, right?"
It took a moment for Ha-Jin to connect the dots but eventually the realization did dawn up upon him. Ha-Jin— Sir Jin. Though he didn't know why the Emperor had done so, he put his utmost trust in him.
"Ah, yes! O-Of course!" He blurted out as the guards looked at each other and smiled before the gates creaked open. The sound of water from the fountain filled the air as Ha-Jin walked towards the entrance of the Palace.
As Ha-Jin walked past the fountain and through the entrance of the Palace, he could not help but be dumbfounded at the sheer lavishness of the place. He looked around the Palace as he wandered around, trying to find the Emperor or at least that haughty piece of shit Arthur.
As if he had read Ha-Jin's thoughts, Arthur almost magically materialised in front of Ha-Jin, his lips still twisted into the same haughty sneer that he had when the two of them had fought.
The two still refused to talk to each other.
Arthur reluctantly extended his hand towards the younger boy before him. Ha-Jin did not bother to meet his hand as he asked, reluctance evident in his voice. "Where is the Emperor?"
Arthur scoffed at his bluntness, glaring at him contemptuously. The two of them stood there in silence having an imaginary battle by glaring into each other's souls until a man who looked slightly older than Arthur stepped in between them. "Now, now, that is no way to treat our new recruit in the Royal Army, Arthur!" He hollered, a smile on his face. By the looks of it, the man was Arthur's older brother. They looked practically the same except the man's buff physique.
"Tch." Arthur scoffed, looking away from the both of them and walking away silently. After seeing that Arthur was gone, his brother let out a sigh of relief before speaking. "My name is Darius Crownshield. You can call me Darius." His voice was kind and humble—the complete opposite of the contemptuous Arthur.
Darius glanced around for a moment, making sure nobody could hear them before speaking, his voice a hushed whisper. "I'm sure you're confused about this whole 'Jin Silverthorne' thing, yeah?"
Ha-Jin nodded as Darius continued. "Well, you see, the people of the Capital do not like people from the Junkyard, let alone enjoy seeing a person from there become a Royal Army member. So, you have to pretend to be 'Jin' from the Noble blood 'Silverthorne' for now."
Ha-Jin let out a hum of approval. "Sounds easy enough." Ha-Jin said. Darius cocked a brow, he thought the boy would be happier about being treated like a noble. "How come you aren't the least bit happy about being under a Noble blood's name?" Darius inquired, looking Ha-Jin dead in the eye.
"Is it not obvious to you?" Ha-Jin said, his face contorting into a look of pure disgust. "Those Nobles are the ones who ruined my—our lives!" He snapped.
"Then why do you help us—no, the Capital by becoming part of the Royal Army?" Darius asked him, his voice one of amusement and curiosity.
"Ah, don't you get the wrong idea. I am not 'helping' anybody here, I'm only using this opportune situation to ascend through the rankings of this wretched world." Ha-Jin said with a scoff before leaning forward and tapping Darius on the forehead. "And I believe you should get this fact buried into that filthy brain of yours."
Darius just stood there, letting the boy vent on him, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes on his face. Ha-Jin noticed this but pushed it away, thinking of it as half-assed sympathy.
"Just take me to the Emperor." Ha-Jin hissed as Darius nodded blankly before turning on his heel and guiding Ha-Jin.
When they reached the Emperor's study, a 'runecard' materialised in Darius' hand. He pushed it into the space for a runecard, making the doors to the study creak open. Seems like the card had multiple purposes.
The room was lined with numerous shelves, each ending right below the ceiling. Between two of such selves sat the same grey-haired man with a crown resting atop his head that Ha-Jin had seen two days ago.
When the Emperor noticed Ha-Jin's presence in the room, his face lit up instantly. "Hello, boy!" The man exclaimed through the study, the light from the light artifact that ran on mana glinting off of his bright smile.
Suddenly, a spear whizzed past Ha-Jin's face. Ha-Jin slightly tilted his head, the spear going past his face, lodging in the wall behind him. The spear had managed to graze him with a shallow cut on his cheek. He glanced back at the spear and then the path it had followed, spotting the same girl that had been with Arthur when they had been fighting each other. Now that she was without her hood, her bloodline was more evident. Her face was identical to the Emperor's.
"Huh, so that time you beat me wasn't a fluke after all." The girl scoffed, envy evident in her gaze as she walked closer. "Alexandra Crownshield." She introduced herself bluntly, extending her hand to Ha-Jin which he this time shook.
"Now, let's get you ready! Your enlistment is in an hour!" The Emperor spoke in a hurried tone as he called out for his maids.
Ha-Jin expected beautiful maids to appear before him but his imagination only came half true. There was one petite young girl in her maid outfit and one humongous—almost manly—muscled woman behind her.
Ha-Jin shrieked at the sight and glanced back at the emperor and pointed at the woman to confirm if this was real. The Emperor nodded with an amused smile on his face.
Before Ha-Jin could refuse, he was suddenly picked up by the humongous maid and taken away all the while he pleaded for mercy.
***
When he was brought back, he was dressed in all white. He wore a white coat over his white shirt and a pair of white jeans and boots, his neck adorned with gold jewellery and multiple rings on his fingers.
Ha-Jin's expression remained quite neutral as he looked at himself in the mirror. Darius let out a low whistle before clapping his hands. "Looking sharp!" He praised, which made Ha-Jin shoot him a glare. He clearly wasn't interested in this whole dress-up thing.
"Oh well." Darius feigned hurtfulness, a mischievous glint still in his eyes even after the harsh words Ha-Jin had spoken to him. Ha-Jin could not help but think something was different about the man. "Anyway, father's waiting for you on the balcony." Darius said, his voice a bit more serious this time around.
Ha-Jin gave him a nod before he started walking to the balcony of the ginormous palace. When he finally reached the balcony, he saw the Emperor quietly standing there, looking at something down below.
"We're seriously gonna do the enlistment here?" Ha-Jin asked, walking up to stand beside the old man. He suddenly looked down and was left speechless. A crowd of hundreds of thousands had gathered down at the base of the Palace.
"All this for just a soldier in the Royal Army?" Ha-Jin asked, his eyes widened in surprise as he glanced at the old man beside him. The Emperor let out a hearty chuckle, looking at Ha-Jin as if he were stupid. "Son, you're not a random soldier in the Royal Army." The Emperor said, his voice gleeful.
"Then?" Ha-Jin inquired, obviously curious.
"If only you had listened properly that day.. you're a commander of the Attack Force, dummy!" The Emperor chided all while he chortled.
Ha-Jin pointed to himself, dumbfounded. "Seriously? Me?" He asked the old man as if he were dreaming. "I'm not even that strong!" Ha-Jin cried out, his voice nearly drowned out by the cheers from the crowd below.
"Tsk, Tsk. If only you could see your own potential." The Emperor chuckled to himself, the stat window open before him.
"Now then, let's welcome our new Commander!" The Emperor exclaimed to the crowd. The crowd immediately burst into cheers at the Emperor's words.
"Welcome Jin Silverthorne, the new commander of the Attack Force!" The Emperor exclaimed once again as he bit his thumb, drawing blood.
"Now, take off your shirt enough for me to see your chest." The Emperor asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Ha-Jin grumbled at the weird request but obliged. The Emperor proceeded to draw a rune on Ha-Jin's chest where his Mana Core would be. Once it was finished, the old man waited for it to gleam gold like usual. However, instead of the rune gleaming a bright gold, the rune was destroyed by an unnatural force, erasing itself. The Emperor was suddenly overcome with a sharp stinging pain in his chest as he fell to his knees. Ha-Jin dropped to his knees , grabbing the Emperor. "Old man? Old man! What happened?!" Ha-Jin cried out. The old man merely shook his head. "It is nothing, you should just give the speech and be done with it."
Despite his reluctance, Ha-Jin obliged to the command. A few doctors of the Palace gently picked up the Emperor and took him to the infirmary. The crowd looked worried until the boy finally spoke into the strange rune covered device the old man had given him before being taken away.
"Hello?" Ha-Jin said, his voice echoing through the crowd. "Do not fret, the Emperor has just been taken away for his usual chest pain medicine, he will be back shortly." Ha-Jin added which made the crowd simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief.
"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all that I pledge my loyalty to the Capital and will protect all of its citizens from whatever sort of danger it is going through!"
The crowd erupted into cheers, some even whistling for Ha-Jin. Ha-Jin couldn't help but scoff, they were cheering and whistling for he was from a Noble blood right now. Had his real identity been revealed, these same citizens would have been throwing whatever they had in their hands at him.
Ha-Jin couldn't help but be disgusted at the sheer structure of this world. It was one-sided. Only if you were a Noble were you congratulated for your feats. Had you been born in a mediocre family, those same people would be scoffing in disgust at you.
Ha-Jin looked at his calloused hands as his goal ran through his head once again. "I swear I will bring down the goddamn creator of this Interface." He muttered to himself before turning around on his heel and back into the lavish parameters of the Palace.