(The princess proposition maybe as well a trap…. But if it is not…. Dammit.) – thought the "Kid".
(There is really no evidence to back up her claim regarding the goodness dying state or the so called artefact we were never aware of.)
(We can try reclaiming the so called artefact, but it will take time.)
"…"
"The best thing to do things would be to not accept the deal if I'm honest."
"The gamble right now could be proven deadly…. Hey."
"Is it possible to have a face to face with princess?"
"If so, make her sign the bounding contract."
"That will be hard." – said Garav.
"According to her, the empire are watching her movement and she can barely do anything without getting caught."
"If she were to arrange a meeting, the empire would notice her and instantly realize her betrayal."
"Then we can just do it other way around, right?" – replied "Kid".
"We will go and meet "her"."
[2 days later.]
"Your majesty, are you sure about this?" – asked merfolk knight as he alongside other knight and the princess were staying in one of the port cities that was conquered by the empire.
"You mean the betrayal?" – asked the princess.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Honestly, I expected the empire to try and keep us pets, but to straight up instead exterminate us after this war is over?"
"Even I could not predicted that."
"And now we really don't have any other choice but to side with the alliance and betray the king in order to survive."
"…"
"But what about the empire forces here?" – asked the second merfolk knight as he looked out the window.
"This place is swarming with them."
"They are probably here to also keep a watch on us, since they don't trust us."
"…..This maybe not the city where the Great Barrier is, but it is still heavily fortified."
"How would the messenger from the vampires gets to us?"
"Don't know." – said the princess.
"He said that we have to give our exact location and be in isolated space…. I really don't know if I should had trusted him or not, since it was quiet clear that….?"
"!"
"WHO IS THERE?!"
"…"
"Huh…. You noticed me?" – said the voice from the shadows as the darkness gathered around, before then taking a form of humanoid figure with helmet mask.
"Greetings princes Azr'rao."
"I'm the Shadow Mask."
"And I'm messenger of the vampire king."
"…"
(They managed to slip past all these paladins without getting noticed? I guess they send a big shot, eh?) – thought the bit nervous princess.
"Do you have it?" – asked the princess.
"Yes, I do." – said Shadow Mask as she took out a binding contract and handed it over to the princess who immediately started reading it.
"…"
(…There is nothing wrong on their side….. Nor on ours…. But-)
#After the war, the merfolk will be temporarily used as the workers until a specific level of repairs has been archived. #
#If necessary, merfolk will disturb or provide assistance to the alliance ship – Does not include merfolk fighting directly. #
(This first part is probably regarding a punishment, since it was thanks to us that the empire managed to even get here…. While the second is about some basic support….)
(I don't have the problem with the second point here, but the first is the problematic bastard.)
(We need to establish our own kingdom and splitting up workers like that…. But again, do we have any choice?)
(I can't really argue back either….)
(But this isn't all.)
(This a "Binding Contract Of Royal Blood"!?)
(That contracts affects the entire blood line!)
(It would not affect my father… But any of my children would end up being affected.)
(They really want to make sure that we won't turn tail.)
# "Gravar Von Wither" #
(The vampire king has already signed it as well.)
(As soon as I write down my own name down, the contract will activate.)
"…"
"Here." – said the princess as she signed the contact, causing chains to suddenly appear around her chest, before then disappearing.
"!?"
"Princess?! Why did you signed it without asking anything!?" – asked the confused knight.
"There was no problem what so ever nor any hidden details." – said the princess as she handed over the contract to Shadow Mask.
"The contact was both safe and fair."
"So I signed it."
"Is there a problem?"
"…"
"N-no." – said the nervous merfolks knight as he saw Shadow Mask taking the contract and pocketing it.
"Well…. I've also was expecting a debate or something, if I'm honest." – said Shadow Mask.
"But you have already signed it… So, I guess case closed?"
"Yes." – said the princess.
"Then you better keep the end of your bargain."
"Don't worry. We will." – said Shadow Mask before then disappearing into the shadows.
The princess of the Merfolk singed a contract with the vampires and this immediately caused many things to occur.
The merfolk stationed at the conquered city suddenly all retreated, saying something about a "sea monsters attacking".
But in reality? There was nothing like that.
And one who found it suspicious was the Son Of Glory who immediately tried calling the king of the merfolk, demanding a explanation…. But there was nothing.
The Son Of Glory could not contact the king of merfolk at all…. The reason was simple.
He was assassinated.
By whom? By the princess.
Before the contract was even signed, the princess of merfolk was already preparing the Coup.
The princess ordered the assassination of not only her father, but also all the merfolk that were taking the empire side.
They were not hiding it either.
They made it known that the one who orchestrated it all was none other than princess.
"…"
"What is going on? Why did we lost all the contact with the merfolk?" – asked Son Of Glory.
"We don't know sir." – said the paladin.
"The merfolk forces all retreated, saying stuff about sea monsters…. But after words? They went completely silent."
"There is not a single merfolk left nor anybody is answering our calls."
"…"
"Order some of our men to visit their kingdom." – said Godfrey.
"I want to find out what is going on."
The empire could no longer handle the merfolk silence and they immediately send their people to investigate…. Only to find nothing.
The entire kingdom? Empty.
The castle?
Empty.
The valuables?
Gone.
The merfolk kingdom was completely empty.
"What do you mean it is empty!?" – asked Godfrey through the communication device.
"It is like we said. There is nothing." – said the paladin who was exploring the underwater kingdom.
"The entire city is infested with sea monsters…. But this isn't the weirdest part."
"There are no traces of fighting or anything."
"It does not look like there was anything like big fight or maybe some sort of large monster going on the rampage, there is straight up nothing."
"It is as if the entire population of the kingdom just disappeared."
"…"
"What about the holy emperor? Does he know?" – asked Godfrey.
"Yes, he was informed about it all." – said the paladin.
"He told us to keep looking for anything out of ordinally. He told us to especially look around the castle to see if there was any form of struggle there…. But here is the weird part."
"The castle wasn't locked."
"The entrance were not barricaded or anything."
"Not only that, but their vaults was completely empty."
"…"
"I see.. Continue your work." – said Godfrey before ending the call.
"…"
(Something is off…. The timing is far too good.)
(We were about to send merfolk to attack the alliance just now…. And continently sea monsters suddenly attacked? They also recalled every single merfolk back to the kingdom…. But would that coward of a king really do it?)
"…"
"He may…. If I think about it…."
(But is it really it?)
(Empty kingdom without anything of value left…. While the city itself is infested with sea monsters?)
(By any chance, is that the doing of that demon god again? Did his forces came back again and finished off merfolk while nobody was watching?)
(But for what?)
"…"
(No…. There is something off.)
(That demon god showed no mercy what so ever to the merfolk. I saw the destruction myself when I went to their kingdom.)
(And yet their capital city wasn't harmed at all from any sort of battles?)
(Not only that, but all valuables are gone? Including both the food and treasure from their vault?)
(No matter how you look at it, there is no way it was the demon god of sea doing.)
"…"
"Were we betrayed by the merfolk?"
(It would make sense…. But moving the entire kingdom all at once and making sure that everybody was evacuated would not be an easy task.)
(There is also that king who….. Oh…. I get it.)
(The princess.)
(She was planning this for long time, wasn't she?)
(Yea…. Unlike the king, she would definitely pull it off… And there is also the whole "sea monster" excuse.)
(I did wanted to get rid off her and steal away her authority…. But the timing of her disappearance is just way too convenient.)
"…"
"…"
"No… I'm not overthinking it."
(Her personality, skills, tactics and the hatreat towards the empire makes all the pieces fall together…. So, what now?)
(Did they just escaped? But where? And why?)
(Not many people knew in the first place about our plans to exterminate the merfolk after the war…. Iron Will knew, but he was by my side all this time, so there was no way he could have made any contract with merfolk…..Is there really a chance that somebody ratted us out?)
(If not, why else they would run away?)
"…"
"As for "where" …. I can kind of image."
(The alliance.)