( In the royal garden , inner district, Purplehaze city)
Rudra and Cervantez took a stroll in the royal gardens of Purplehaze city as the two tier 5 overlords discussed about the future of the continent.
Cervantez asked tactfully ” So , do you still feel like your kingdom is a integral part of the Hazelgroove Empire? “
The underlying meaning beneath this question was that was Rudra going to continue being a vassal state or was he going to rebel and fight for Independence?
In reality Rudra was only a vassal in name as the True Elites Kingdom was only paying an annual tribute of 250,000 gold to the empire and had complete autonomy regarding defense and policy making , with the only military obligation being to lend 20% of all standing forces in times of emergency.
These were very lose terms and in theory Hazelgroove empire did not control the True Elites Kingdom at all , however that situation was because Cervantez let them be free , not because they had the capability of being free.
Cervantez was the kingmaker as he let Rudra take the throne , as he could have otherwise easily taken the kingdom and placed a puppet on the throne.
But that dynamic changed now that Rudra was tier 5 and the developed true elites army was extremely formidable.
The defense and infrastructure spending that Rudra had spent on his territory could only be described as extravagant as security from external threats came as his number one priority while making internal policies.
All these changes meant that Cervantez was no longer the overlord above Rudra and that he had to start treating him as an equal. If Rudra chose to be independent now , he would show his true colors as a snake and Cervantez would understand if he needed to prepare against a rebellion within his kingdom or not.
Rudra also understood this well , he also understood that he was strong enough to take on Cervantez head on, and end the legend of the emperor , for once and for all to annex his throne . However, that was never one Rudra’s ambitions nor his nature.
He was always loyal to the people who supported him when he was nothing and emperor Cervantez was one of those few people who did. When the blood merchants attacked his territory, Cervantez dispatched a lot of reinforcements unconditionally without which Rudra would have lost the war.
Taking that into account and the fact that the terms and conditions that the elites currently had for being a vassal were already extremely generous, Rudra saw no benefit in revolting.
He was content with the piece of land he held and wanted to develop it perfectly for now rather than taking on new lands which he would most likely not even rule for a year.
Smiling he said ” Ofcourse, nothing changes , you helped me when I was a nobody my Emperor, and Shakuni of the Elites returns gratitude with gratitude, no matter how big I become , or heights I achieve I will always be grateful to you “.
Cervantez chuckled as while Rudra’s words reaffirmed him , it also posed a challenge that said ‘ We are equals now , but won’t be in the future ‘.
Cervantez understood the difficulty of ascending after reaching tier 5 more than anyone in the world , however Rudra said it as if it was not a big deal at all .
Shockingly Cervantez knew it in his heart that the man was not kidding either , given enough time if anyone could actually ascend to godhood it would be Shakuni.
The two shared an amiable chat after that as Cervantez dropped the nominal annual tribute to one gold coin and military standing to just 2% .
It solidified the position of the elites as an independent kingdom who were vassals only in name.
The later part of the talks with the two powerhouses also involved many top level government figures from both sides , as Cervantez presented his plan to strong arm 4 surrounding kingdoms to submit to Hazelgroove Empire now that Rudra was also tier 5.
In his mind the enemy would be a fool to resist and if everything went well , then all 4 kingdoms would fall to the Hazelgroove rule within next 2 months.
But for this to happen , both the powerhouses needed to go on a tour to a ‘ Friendly ‘ visit to all the nations alongside some of their ‘ Personal ‘ bodyguards to explain the situation perfectly well to them.
For Cervantez it was the motive of expanding his territory, gain more income and restore the previous glory of Hazelgroove Empire. For Rudra he was to get 30% of all the annual tributes as ‘ Releif Funds ‘ from Hazelgroove Empire every single year for this help.
It was a very lucrative offer and Rudra had nothing to lose , plus if the 4 nations acceded to Hazelgroove Empire Rudra would be able to make internal operations in their territory as well , harvesting precious resources and herbs to fuel his guilds growth.
Rudra however did not want to go on a month long tour to other nations to make them accede to the terms and conditions, hence decided on hosting a banquet where he would invite all 4 kings to Purplehaze city.
Although it was a banquet on the surface, it was basically a dinner of doom for the 4 kings who were about to lose their sovereignty.
The date of the banquet was decided to be 7 days from now , and two tier 4 representatives were sent to each of the four kingdoms to strongarm them into accepting the invitation.
Karna, Neatwit, SMG, Medivh were dispatched from the Elites side and Patricia alongside some other generals were dispatched from Cervantez ‘s side to these kingdoms in pairs of two alongside an invitation written in pure gold by Rudra’s handwriting.
Although Rudra did not need to help Cervantez with this , he wanted to settle his old debts before starting the war with Lucifer as once it started there would not be any more time for anything else.
Since the deadline for the war to start was still a month away , Rudra had this one final chance to help Cervantez and make him owe a favour.
This was mainly because Rudra did not know what forces he would need to call on for help in the eventual war.
*********
( Meanwhile the forums )
Rudra’s news that he was tier 5 now sent the world ablaze.
Many declared him as the greatest player of all time and nobody could refute that he was the strongest player in the game anymore.
There were many unofficial power rankings and although Rudra ranked top 10 in all of those rankings he was not consistently shown as the top player .
Everyone from the general public had long acknowledged his skill , however there was always some stats that they could rely on which made them beleive that Rudra was not THE undisputed number one.
However nobody could refute this fact any longer as the gap between Rudra and the second highest levelled player was 130 levels and one tier.
Such a difference was no longer something that any unofficial rankings could debate against and unilaterally throughout the world Rudra’s position was changed to number one.
The dark faction players who were already furious by his actions of defeating their rankers mercilessly as well as conquering one of their territories now abandoned all hopes of revenge as they trembled by his name itself.
His might was terrifying at tier 4 as he could kill several tier 4 players alone back then , however now that he reached tier 5 it was a whole different ballpark that nobody could even imagine.
Some feared that Rudra could wipe out all of the dark faction rankers alone if he wanted to which caused the rankers to hide their necks in fear.
Those who had previously talked shit about Rudra ran to the internet to delete all their previous comments as to not antagonize the Giant.
The church of deaths popularity also exploded alongside Rudra’s video on how to level up as the concept of participating in wars to gain exp suddenly gained unbelievable traction.
Some idiots doubted about Rudra’s claims However when Rudra turned his level display to ‘ On ‘ and showed his level 507 on the ranking boards , they shuddered and shut up in fear.
Things started to fall into Rudra’s favor naturally as if the universe was orchestrating it to happen , as he was not only gaining over a million new entrants a day in the church , but the eagerness for the commoners to wage wars was also boiling up.
Everything seemed to gradually progress in a fashion that Rudra initially wanted it to , however this time around it was an natural effect and not an effect of his manipulation.
The countdown to the war was progressing smoothly!
/// Guys I’m returning back home today , my vacation was great I’m completely refreshed now , expect amazing content and thrilling sequences in the coming month as well as LOTS of bonuses!
Thankyou for your patience the past week :slightly_smiling_face:///
