Kingdom Building Game: Starting Out With A Million Upgrade Points! - Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Where the Sun Bows Low
Almost two weeks after the fall of House DeLambre, the news finally reached the Imperial Court of Akeria.

The skies over Asterthrone Keep were gray and heavy, pressing down on the gilded towers and wide stone avenues of the capital. Inside the throne hall, the court had gathered in uneasy silence. Rows of nobles in their fine robes stood alongside armored generals and wary stewards, all waiting for the messengers to speak.

The lead messenger stood before them, breathing hard. His leather brigandine was spattered with mud and sweat-stained at the collar, the steel studs dulled by the long ride. His face was thin and sunburned, with dark hollows beneath sharp eyes that flicked nervously around the hall. Dust clung to his short-cropped brown hair, and his lips were cracked from days without proper water.

The two riders behind him looked little better—gaunt, cloaked in road grime, gripping their travel-stained helms as though still bracing for another gallop.

The lead messenger swallowed hard. His throat worked around the words before they finally scraped out.

Bowing low, though his knees trembled, he spoke.

“Your Imperial Majesty… I come bearing grim tidings from the west. House DeLambre… is no more.”

A ripple went through the court—startled gasps, sharp intakes of breath. The messenger dared not look up. He kept his eyes fixed on the polished marble at Varian’s feet.

“It was a Bloodbane army, sire. Ten thousand strong, by our last count. Led by Emperor Arkanos himself. They descended upon Viremont with strange sorcery and overwhelming force.”

He drew a ragged breath. “Lord Yoanas DeLambre fell defending his hall. His son, Ser Alaric, tried to break through their vanguard but was struck down in single combat. We… we found his head, my lord, packed in a tarred cask, sent alongside the others as a warning.”

Silence followed—deep and stifling.

The messenger’s voice dropped, barely above a whisper. “They say the fields still run red, and that the walls of DeLambre manor are now draped with the dragon crest of Bloodbane.”

He risked lifting his eyes to the emperor. “I beg your mercy, Your Majesty, for bringing such foul news. But it is truth, sworn by every man who survived the retreat.”

The hall remained hushed. Somewhere down the line of nobles, a woman let out a choked sob. The generals exchanged hard looks.

At the throne’s base, the messenger’s hands curled into fists to stop their shaking. He waited for the emperor’s judgment, heart hammering, sweat sliding down the side of his face.

For a few breaths, the throne room remained deadly silent. Even the courtiers famed for their cutting tongues found no words. The scent of hot wax from towering chandeliers mingled with sweat and the faint, acrid tang of fear.

At last, it was Lord Veydris Kain who stepped forward, his black robes whispering across the marble. A thin smile curled beneath his neatly trimmed beard—the only man in the court who seemed strangely invigorated by this calamity.

Veydris bowed low and spoke with graceful calm.

“Your Majesty, it would seem the Bloodbane dogs have drawn first blood in earnest. They mean to unmake the borders of your empire—to shatter the lesser houses so they bend or break before the tide.”

He paused, eyes bright with dangerous amusement. “If they think to cow us with barrels of severed heads, they forget whose shadow the sun itself bends to serve.”

Varian did not rise. He merely let his gaze drift from Veydris to the assembled court. Then he spoke.

“Send word to House Valthorne and House Mericant. Remind them of their sworn bonds—and the price of neglect. Have the Legions of Dawn marshaled within a fortnight. I will not wait upon their leisure.”

He turned then, his voice lowering into a measured rumble. “And instruct our shipwrights at Thalren: the Skyward Dominion will move ahead of schedule. Veydris, see to it personally. I will not have our designs linger while the Bloodbane empire builds its legend upon my soil.”

Veydris bowed deeper, his hand pressed to his chest.

“As you command, Your Majesty. The Skyward Dominion shall not falter under my watch.”

Varian’s gaze slid past him, landing once more on the lead messenger.

“You. Speak further of this Bloodbane assault. What of their forces, their composition? And more importantly—how did they strike so deep into Akerian soil without warning?”

The messenger swallowed, throat working painfully.

“They… appeared, sire. As though conjured from thin air. Our scouts on the hills saw no approaching host, no supply lines, no dust on the roads. Then, in a flash of light and a roar like a thousand tearing sails—they were simply there. Columns of infantry, cavalry, mages. By the time the horns sounded at DeLambre’s gates, the enemy was already upon them.”

A stir ran through the court—nobles muttering in hushed, sharp tones.

“Bloodbane and their foul sorcery,” hissed Lord Dravon, his gold rings clinking against his goblet.

“Dark powers. Emperor Arkanos deals with devils, mark me,” another fretted.

“A cursed empire, ruled by unclean arts…”

Varian raised one brow, eyes glittering with cold, amused disdain.

“Teleportation magic,” he said flatly, cutting through their babble. The chamber quieted at once.

“Such craft is no small feat. If the Bloodbane emperor has a mage capable of moving an entire army through the ether, then they do not merely dabble in old tricks—they wield power that could reshape entire campaigns.”

He let that hang for a moment, watching the nobles shift uneasily.

Then he leaned back in his throne, voice dropping to a near growl.

“And if they possess such power, do you truly think they would stop at one border house? If it were me…”

Varian paused, eyes unfocused, as if seeing distant lands in his mind.

“…I would strike everywhere. I would surround my enemies on all sides, so that when they turned to defend their gates, they would find my blades already in their courtyards.”

Then, quite suddenly, Varian threw back his head and laughed—a harsh, echoing sound that bounced off the pillars and sent shivers down more than one spine.