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Chapter 816: One Vs One Hundred Million

The wind gathered beneath the Swords Princess as she trusted, cushioning her fall. Lyle stared at the scene with discomfort because he knew that all it took him was one gesture to end his enemy\'s daughter\'s life.         

"A pleasure to have you here, my princess," said Lyle as he bowed to her. He never stopped being respectful because one wrong word could throw him into the emperor\'s list. "It is a long way from the capital."     

"Is that another way of asking what brought me here?" asked Ivory as she landed on the soft soil. "I asked you a thousand times to stop these formalities. We fought, and that makes us equals."     

"That is a bit wrong since you have yet to defeat me," said Lyle as he raised his head. The princess puckered her face in annoyance as she looked around. "Why are you here, princess?"     

"I was bored," said the princess while stretching. "Thus, I came here to test your knights. Choose your best ten and let them come at me simultaneously."     

"Are you here to polish your art, Princess Ivory?" Lyle sighed. "My knights are not for training, unfortunately. My best ten knights patrolled the area for possible mishaps per your father\'s orders. Summoning them from their post would leave a great vulnerability in our defenses."     

"I have my father\'s permission, so stop sweating over it," said Ivory as she stretched. "If there are no ten knights, then I would have to fight you ten times."     

Lyle would rather throw his knights under the bus to avoid revealing too much of his art because this woman was perceptive about swords more than anything. However, he would listen to her wishes in all cases because this was the perfect excuse to pull the knights back. Therefore, smuggling Ai and the rest would be easy.      

"Herwig," called Lyle for his steward without breaking eye contact with the smiling princess. "Pull back our best ten knights from their patrols, and have their squads form temporary barricades until they return."     

"As you wish, commander!" said Herwig before rushing to send summonses.     

"I knew you would be the perfect one to indulge my whims, Lyle. How long do we have to wait until the knights return?" asked the princess as she started walking toward the largest tent.     

"Thirty minutes, at least," answered Lyle as he followed after her. "If you wish, you can spare against our dummies. I have other matters to attend to, so I will leave…."     

"Your current most important matter is entertaining your princess, Thickhead," said Ivory as she stepped into his tent. Lyle stood outside before sighing and following after her. "I want to nap, so I want this place to be quiet. Order your knights not to disturb me."     

Lyle could feel the veins in his head pulsing, letting him know he had had enough of her childish tantrums. However, when all was said and done, they benefited him that the princess was unpredictable. Thus, he commanded his knights to deter from the tent before he went inside to inform her.     

Unlike her earlier declarations, Ivory sat on the chair, staring at the map he had on the table. It had all the major cities of Ilios, and the princess seemed to be deep in thought while staring at them.     

"Are you taking a nap with your eyes open?" asked Lyle as he walked toward the table, trying to see what intrigued her. However, the map was normal, only highlighting the Holy Posts around the empire.     

"How big is our empire, Knights Commander?" asked the princess with an unusual calm. Lyle had never seen her carrying such a face, which also affected him. "I once heard one of my tutors say the empire has one hundred million citizens."     

"That\'s an old figure since no one bothered to count in the last five years. We can round it up to that, though. Is there something wrong, princess?" Lyle asked as he walked to stand beside her. Ivory placed her hand on the map as if feeling its pulse.     

"If you had to choose, Knights Commander, between one person and one hundred million, what would your choice be?" asked the Swords Princess, her fingertips dragging across the map. "Would you sacrifice the one for the many?"     

"As a Knight, I must protect the empire," said Lyle as a matter of faculty. The princess seemed dissatisfied with the answer as if she already knew the right choice. "Before I make such a decision, I would have to imagine my life after it. What guilt would be less to carry?"     

The princess was quiet after that, and she kept staring at the table for a few minutes. Noises came from outside as the Royal Fleet started lining the skies between Helios and Wailing. As for the princess\'s ship, it had to descend and wait for her.     

"We have no time before my \'advisors\' arrive," said Ivory before she cleared the map before them. "I have no one else to trust with this information. Even more, if I asked everyone else, he would give me the same answer."     

"Ask them what?"     

"If your emperor told you to kill the citizens, would you do it?" asked Princess Ivory with a cold face, telling Lyle that she wasn\'t joking around like usual. "Answer me truthfully, Lyle."         

"My grandfather taught me to protect the empire," said Lyle. "Does the empire consist of its citizen or its emperor?"     

After a moment of silence between the two, Princess Ivory chuckled before taking a pen and drawing atop the map. She picked different spots until they formed a circle and then picked five within the circle.     

"I came across this by chance while researching sword arts. However, my father… no, the emperor, has created arrays in these locations. He poured countless golds into them, making me curious enough to visit the arrays myself."     

"What is this about, Princess?"     

"Just listen to me," said Ivory with a frown as she turned to him. "I found camps of people working day and night on what he called a grand array encompassing the whole empire."     

"Who said?"     

"A runemaster I interrogated," said Ivory with a face that showed it was obvious. "I had to kill him afterward."     

"…princess…"     

"There is no reason to feel guilty once you realize what these runemasters are doing. The Sun Emperor\'s Workshop is building what the forger warned us about. Before his death, he said the emperor wanted to steal the lifeforce of his citizens."     

"Are you accusing the emperor of conspiring against his citizens?" asked Lyle with shock. He was starting to feel like he was being entrapped into believing her, only to find himself behind bars. "The mere suggestion is treason to the crown."     

"Fuck the crown, Lyle. You said it earlier. We are knights before we are subjects of the crown. Does the empire consist of its citizen or its emperor? If an emperor dies, his son takes the throne. If the citizens die, there is no more empire."     

Her harsh words told him she was the usual princess, but Lyle was still hesitant about believing her. However, if she told the truth, their plans would be no more than suicide. A grand array that could strengthen the emperor was enough to make him a god.     

"Why are you telling me this, princess?" asked Lyle after some consideration. "Is this a test of my loyalty?"     

Princess Ivory walked toward him and pulled down his collar, ensuring he was staring her in the eyes. Her fiery eyes were serious for the first time since he got to know her.     

"Am I the sort of person to come over here and test you?" asked Princess Ivory. "If I wanted your head on a spike, all I have to do was duel you and injure myself. But you are the person I trust in this damn empire, so listen to what I say!"     

Lyle stared into her eyes and slowly nodded, which prompted the princess to let go of him and fold the map before slamming it into his chest. Thus, he grabbed it, and the princess looked toward the tent\'s entrance.     

"I have many dogs following me, so I cannot move freely. I need someone I can trust to destroy one of these places to ensure the array never gets done. After this farce is over, I will seize the throne if I have to, just to stop my foolish father."