Path of the Berserker-Chapter 23Book 5:

I sat down with the empress, bloody clothes and all.

It didn’t seem like she cared too much though, more interested in sampling the decadent desserts, strewn across the table. Up close, I could see that Lunalah was indeed a near carbon copy of her mother and if the rules of the prior engagement were any judge, she was a large contributor to her personality as well.

The bald man with the salt and pepper beard, sitting with her, was more of an enigma.

By the way he carried himself, he was someone of authority that was for sure, but as for what role he played, I didn’t know. Perhaps he was her aide like Ling Wei was for Lunalah. I kept quiet as Empress Revenah picked from several of the desserts. Ling Wei, next to me, kept quiet as well, keeping her head down to avoid eye contact.

I wasn’t going the mousey approach like her, but I kept my countenance even keeled with a distant stare of [Indifference] as I waited for the empress to make the first move. After a few more minutes she eventually did.

“Not hungry, Marshal?” she said. “Was that challenge not enough to work up even an appetite?”

Before I could even respond, she let out a cackle, laughing at her own words, declaring the question as rhetorical, I guessed. I glanced at the man with her. He frowned as he reached his chopsticks to grab some gelatinous block of red goop.

“I would say it was rather anticlimactic,” he said. “Clearly those men were no match for you, Marshal Iron Bull.”

“I guess not,” I said, flatly.

In truth, I hadn’t given it much thought, but I wasn’t sure how to gauge that battle. On one hand, it had helped me to finally progress to the next tier of my cultivation within the Sacred Soul Realm, but the battle itself was not as challenging as I would have expected.

But I was fighting against Token Black robes.

Who knew if they had any true combat experience or not?

I could tell the rhino guy was more experienced in a martial sense though. He could have beaten me if it was purely skill versus skill. It was a grim reminder of the primary reason I’d come here. I needed to get to Ri Ben to train with those artisan masters. My techniques were still Gold Bracket tier and I needed to ‘get good’, especially if I was going to face a true Diamond Bracket contender in Lunalah’s trial.

But I needed to protect Bryce as well, learning the location of that distant planet I’d seen, plus I had to find out what it was going to take for me to earn the title of Duke. And for that the Empress held all the keys. She knew it too, and I sensed she was purposefully wasting time just to prove the point.

The world revolved around her, not the other way around.

I stifled my growing ire and cultivated it instead.

“Is my daughter well?” she asked.

Not in the head, I wanted to say.

But I wasn’t sure if she was speaking to me or Ling Wei.

I personally couldn’t give a damn.

Thankfully Ling Wei fielded the question first.

“She is quite well and sends you her best regards, your excellency,” she said.

The man with the beard merely harrumphed.

“I’m sure,” he said sardonically.

“Careful, my dear,” Revenah said. “You will give the Imperial Marshal here the wrong impression of my daughter.” She then smiled. “Although I suppose you have already developed an impression of her yourself, have you not?” freewēbnoveℓ.com

She paused on that, waiting for an answer.

“I have,” I said, but didn’t commit to saying any more than that.

“And tell me, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

Finally, the question I had been waiting for.

I tapped into my [Struggler’s Resolve], laying on the Frenzy. “My first intention is to defend her, your excellency. I am due to stand as her proxy before the High Council in six months’ time.”

“Oh?” Revenah said disingenuously, as if it was news to her. “Whatever for?”

“She has been accused of treason by Princess Rheutera,” Ling Wei chimed in. “This One, Ling Wei, shall be acting as her barrister, your excellency.”

“Is that right?” Revenah said. “And what say you about this case before the High Council, Admiral Jin Yoo Sai? Have you seen it upon the council’s ledger?”

“I have not,” the man, Jin Yoo Sai said. “But it is some months away. I would not expect it to reach notoriety before them. But a notorious case it will be, for certain. I trust you are preparing well for Princess Lunalah’s defense, Marshal Bull?”

“Iron Bull,” I corrected him. “And yes, I intent to, so long as I’m granted the access I need. Your daughter said you were willing to make the Grand Archives and the smithing world of Rhi Ben open to me. I’ll need both if I’m to advance. Is this still the case?”

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With that statement, I dropped the bull shit pandering and went direct. These people knew why I’d come here, and I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me begging for something they’d already agreed to.

My moxy shocked them though, their eyebrows lifting high.

“Apologies,” I said casually, looking towards the admiral. “But as a pseudo military man, myself, I don’t like to waste time, especially when lives are on the line.”

The man Jin Yoo Sai, shifted in his seat, obviously appreciative of the subtle stroke to his ego. “Well, I do relish my old days when such approaches were considered appropriate. But in my retirement, I find things like this take far more discussion to advance now.”

It was a subtle hint to slow down, I supposed.

I shrugged. “So is that a yes?”

Revenah chuckled. “I can see why she favors you. An untamed brute you are. Lunalah always did have a propensity to gravitate towards the darker elements of desire.”

I didn’t have much clue of what that meant, but I took it as a subtle insult.

Par for the course, I thought.

But I restrained myself and didn’t react, still waiting for an answer to my question.

When she realized that, Revenah finally sighed.

“Yes, I have arranged access to those places,” she said and then slid an envelope across the table to me. “But what I truly wish to discuss is what you requested beyond that. Is it truly your intention to earn yourself a royal title just so that you can ask my daughter’s hand in marriage?”

I picked up the envelope and casually handed it to Ling Wei. “That’s right. A woman of your daughter’s station deserves no less. As you just proved, legionnaires are barely respected within the Lower Courts. I wouldn’t want your daughter to regret our union later because of that. And while I’m sure she’d marry me as is, I won’t have it. A man needs to be able to defend his bride, just like I’m doing for her before the High Council. But as a husband, I’ll need my own royal title to stand behind so I can defend her against any slander that might come her way.”

A pause hung then and even Ling Wei looked impressed by what I’d said. I meant it too, but in my mind, I replaced Lunalah with Fia. The conviction of my words rang true though and after a while Empress Revenah began to slowly nod.

“I see,” she said. “So you truly do intend to marry her at such a cost?”

Cost? I thought.

No one had mentioned anything about cost, but I supposed everything came at a price.

“Yes, whatever it takes,” I said.

Revenah then smiled. “Well good then. Because the price for you will be quite steep, if you can even accomplish it. Would you care to explain, my dear?”

Jin Yoo Sai leaned forward clearing his throat. “The granting of royal title is linked to the granting of land. As a member of the High Council, I can tell you that such is only permitted under the most unique of circumstances. For you that will mean liberating a lost world or claiming a new one. Do you understand what that means?”

I knew exactly what he meant, and my insides soured.

My mind drifted back to not only when the Earth was conquered but when I partook of the same not long ago, assisting King Theos and his crew in subjugating the native world of Hue Zen. I thought for a moment of the people I had hidden away right before the Bloodmoon had taken hold. I hoped they had managed to survive.

But I needed to be in a position to save them some day as well.

And for that I’d need the strength of a High Tier Lesser Deity Realm Cultivator, like King Theos himself. It made sense now why he held that title of King. Who knew how many countless worlds he had conquered on behalf of the empire and then handed over to the emperor’s wayward daughters?

One thing was for sure though.

No way in hell was I stooping to doing that shit.

I tried not to let my disgust show by slipping on my mask of [Indifference]. “Conquer a world huh?”

“Or in your case several,” Jin Yoo Sai said. “If you wish to become a Duke that is. It’s a high ranking.”

Shit several? I thought.

“If you consider yourself up to it, there are many fringe worlds nearing maturity that require either culling or cultivating.” He then smiled at me. “But that is if you are up to it. This is normally the work of Lesser Deity Realm Cultivators who are a half-step from godhood. For them it is a sacrifice. A duty to the mortal realm before they pass through the celestial veil above and move on to much more important things.”

He then pointed up at the glowing orb high above us.

I could see King Theos and his partners in that vein now.

Especially how callously and mechanically he executed the job.

But I was no damn mass murderer of innocents.

“Do you still think she is worth it?” Empress Revenah asked, lowering her chin onto her clasped hands. “To advance to the next realm and beyond? To become a Duke for the sole purpose of marrying her?”

I resisted every urge in my body to not say “Hell no!”

Instead, I cultivated my inner thoughts to produce fresh Frenzy and redirected it towards my [Indifference] technique to maintain my poker face. What she said was true though. It’d be going through a hell of a lot just to earn a title to marry the princess.

But that wasn’t my true goal.

I needed my title to rule the Earth and even overthrow the princess one day. And while I had no interest in conquering a planet full of innocent mortals, I would need to gain that level of strength one day to not only defend my world from the backlash that would come, once I pulled the trigger, but to defend the empire in general from the scourge of the Cursed Stars.

So was it all worth it?

For her?

For Fia?

For the Earth?

“Damn right it is,” I said with [Struggler’s Resolve].

Their eyes flashed open with shock, both from my words and the technique that delivered them. For the first time I sensed a hint of lemonade come from the empress. The admiral however looked more perplexed.

“You’d really do all that to marry her?” he said it like I was the biggest idiot in the world.

I nearly burst out laughing from the death stare Revenah gave him.

I maintained my composure though and just nodded.

He finally just shrugged. “Well, I suppose love comes in all flavors. If you do intend to take up this challenge, I can certainly get you aboard a vessel bound for a new world that requires liberating from a Bloodmoon.”

“Yes right,” I said, nearly forgetting the propaganda they slung to justify their slaughtering of millions. “I’m not sure when, but I’ll be ready soon.”

I still didn’t have a clue how I would even pull off something like that, but I couldn’t allow it to be a mental stumbling block for me.

Baby steps, I reminded myself. Do what you can do for now. Get to Rhi Ben and focus on breaking through to the Lesser Deity Realm.

“I suppose that settles it,” Revenah said. “Marshal Iron Bull, you have my blessing. Should you grow strong enough to conquer entire worlds for the empire, I will see to it that you are granted both a title and my daughter’s hand in marriage.” She then chuckled. “But see to it that she is not executed for treason first, yes?”

“You have my word, your excellency.” And with that I stood and gave her a low bow.

She smiled and nodded in response.

I guess that’s it, I thought.

I had managed to pull it off.

Sort of.

Ling Wei stood next to me and bowed as well. “We thank you for your audience, your excellency. And for your granted permissions.”

“You are free to stay the afternoon, if you so wish. I know visiting a core world such as this must be a once in a lifetime opportunity for ones such as you.”

She might as well have asked me if I wanted more sandpaper to wipe my ass with.

“No thanks, your excellency,” I said. “But if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather get to training so I can defend your daughter and earn her hand as soon as possible.”

She smiled again, accompanied by another squirt of lemonade.

“May the heavens be with you then, Marshal Iron Bull. I await news of your success and will see you when you defend my daughter in the ring.”