111 Chapter 111. Leaving the Lapis Kingdom

"Halt! State your identity!" a guard yelled out as Leo and Eupheme made it to the palace entrance.

"Killing Cloud, Duke of the Southern Mountains," Leo calmly stated.

"Duke?!" Eupheme asked in shock. Leo was a duke already?

"Please wait a moment, sire. We will get the head advisor to receive you," the guard immediately spoke with the utmost respect. Leo's name was extremely prestigious especially among the military and today, this guard was lucky enough to meet him so he did not want to screw anything up to look good for Leo.

"When did you become a duke?" Eupheme asked curiously.

"It came with the first place ranking," Leo replied helplessly.

"How did I not think about that?" Eupheme spoke in reply as he slapped himself on the head.

"Anyways, why are we here at the Capital? You never told me," Eupheme asked.

"Ah, I need to make a weapon and for it, I need spider silk and Manta Moth silk. I asked the king and he said that there's a competition called the Sacred Silk Competition," Leo answered.

Eupheme immediately froze after hearing that as surprise filled his face. He knew the Sacred Silk Competition all too well. He had quite a history with it as he had participated in its previous occurrence.

"You are making a weapon?" Eupheme asked confusedly.

But before he was answered, the door of the building in the courtyard opened and the same old man walked out.

"Greetings, Duke Cloud," the man clasped his hands and bowed before asking, "Who might this be?"

"This is Eupheme. He will be travelling with me," Leo replied plainly.

"I understand, please follow me," the man spoke and he led the two into the castle and unlike before, he did not lead them to the tower and instead led them to the dining room where the king was waiting all alone by himself. The aroma of food and delicious was still lingering in the air while the table was empty so Leo could tell that he had just eaten.

"Your majesty, I have brought him," the man spoke and he left the room.

"Hello, again your majesty," Leo spoke as he bowed with Eupheme.

"Please, take a seat," the king spoke with a smile as he pointed towards to seats to his left.

As the two of them sat down, the king curiously looked at Eupheme and asked Leo, "May I know who this man is?"

"He is Eupheme, a friend of mine. He will be travelling with me," Leo replied with a light smile.

"I see," the king spoke as he relaxed and began to speak, "Now, I know you are curious about the competition. So I will explain what it actually it. Every ten years, the Jade Empire hosts a competition called the Sacred Silk Competition and every empire sends a team of ten of their strongest young geniuses to participate."

"I see... But if we go in teams then how are the prizes distributed?" Leo asked immediately.

"Good question. The competition is split into two parts, a team battle and an individual battle. In the team battle, each empire will face off against each other and the winner will gain a large amount of spider silk and a peak red grade art. And as for the individual battles, the prizes are the Manta Moth Silk that you wanted," the king replied.

"I see..." Leo spoke, understanding the basic structure of how the competition was to be held, "So what are we going to do?"

"We will leave as soon as the advisor comes back. We will be going to the quartz empire which is right on the top of the Crystal Empire and we will meet the rest of the Crystal Empire's team there. We will then leave from there to the Jade Empire," the king answered.

"I see, how many are we sending from the Lapis kingdom?" Leo asked.

"It's just you. Each kingdom gets one member and the Crystal Empire gets the rest. That's why I am so glad that you agreed to come. This will hopefully make the other powers stop belittling us," the king replied with a rare smile.

"I see," Leo spoke but his tone then suddenly changed, "Will there be problems among the Crystal Empire? Will they look down on us?"

Hearing this, the king's face froze temporarily before answering with a solemn and downcast tone, "I'm afraid so. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Well then, this makes it more fun," Leo spoke as a cruel smiled appeared on his face.

"What are you implying?" the king asked curiously, obviously getting bad vibes from Leo's smile.

"Can I ask you to do something?" Leo asked.

"What is it?" the king asked, wanting to hear it first before deciding.

"Could you provide me and Eupheme with a horse each? I want to travel alone. You can tell the Crystal Empire that we will meet them at the Jade Empire," Leo informed.

"Hm... That is put a lot of pressure on me. I also have to go to too, you know," the king spoke with a conflicted expression.

"Don't worry, I won't disappoint you in the competition," Leo assured and that was enough for the king as he agreed and right on cue, the advisor appeared.

"Your majesty, the carriage is ready," the advisor informed.

"Please, prepare three of the finest horses that we have and pack all my medicine and weapons in my backpack please," the king replied.

"Your majesty?" the advisors asked confusedly. What did he just say?

"I will be travelling with these two," the king spoke as he smiled and got up.

Seeing the advisor frozen on the spot, he raised his tone of voice, "Hurry up! I haven't got all day!"

Immediately, the horses were set up in the next hour while the king wrote a letter for the Crystal Emperor and the group had left by the afternoon.

Heading for the Jade Empire, ready to let the name of the Lapis kingdom be known once again.