174 Chapter 174: The Amazerian Empire

The hovercraft plunged toward the airport, its thrusters burning as it forcibly slowed its descent the moment it reached within ten meters of the ground. Machinery creaked as thrusters and shafts folded to prepare for landing, the metallic noises drowned out by the scream of the plasma jets. The superheated waves scorched the concrete, but the reinforced material didn't give way even as the vehicle set down its tremendous bulk upon the platform.

Even before the engines were fully turned off, the hull opened and clanged downward. Cecilia Stuart strode down the ramp briskly, her beautiful face contorted into a scowl.

"Ah, Cecilia. It's been a while. How have you been?"

At the bottom of the ramp, a safe distance away from the gradually cooling dropship, Sacha Stuart bowed his head slightly as he greeted his niece. Beside him, Adrian Stuart fidgeted nervously, having picked up on his cousin's foul mood.

"I'm fine," Cecilia replied curtly. Sacha nodded and smiled, as if her reply pleased him.

"That's good. How goes your search for your father?"

Cecilia clenched her fists in reflex. Even though you were the one who orchestrated his downfall and plotted to kill him? You have some nerve asking me about my father.

However, she didn't express her rage. Keeping her fury under control, she instead snapped off a retort.

"You were the one who requested me to cut short my search and return as soon as possible."

"Yes, yes. I apologize for that." Sacha lowered his head humbly. "I'm very sorry, I honestly wouldn't have requested for your return unless it was absolutely necessary, but there was no one else who could handle this task. After all, that man is coming."

"That man?" Cecilia echoed, but she knew who Sacha was referring to. Her suspicions were confirmed when Sacha continued.

"Yes. Dignitaries and a super VIP from the Amazerian Empire are coming. They wish to discuss the usual trade deals. And you are the only one who can deal with that man."

"His excellency." Cecilia nodded, now understanding why her uncle was so desperate to call her back. The crown prince of the Amazerian Empire was definitely not a person just anyone could deal with. He was powerful, persuasive and charismatic. If her uncle attempted the negotiations alone, he would find himself outwitted, cornered and manipulated into agreeing to a deal that was extremely profitable for the Amazerian Empire and very detrimental for the Stuart clan. Even if she was unhappy with her uncle, she couldn't afford to allow her clan to fall into ruin. Without her father around, it fell to her to handle the negotiations. "I'll do my best."

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Sacha provided her with a broad smile. "Thank you very much. I really appreciate it."

"I'm sure you do. That's the only reason why you're keeping me alive instead of trying to kill me like you attempted the assassination of my father. Because I'm still useful to you."

Sacha lost his smile. "My dear, that's quite the outrageous accusation. I assure you, I have no such intentions. And why would I wish for the death of my beloved brother?"

"Says the man who now sits in the throne that formerly belonged to his brother."

Sacha held up both hands and shook his head. "If you can find your father, I will willingly relinquish that throne back to him."

Cecilia snorted inwardly. She was 100% sure that her uncle was just bullshitting her, and that he was confident that she would never find her father.

"You should rest. It has been a long journey, hasn't it?"

"I will need to make my preparations," Cecilia countered coolly. "I don't have much time before his Excellency arrives. He will here in…three days?"

"Two days," Sacha corrected, his head still lowered.

"Less time than I expected." Cecilia sighed. "The crown prince is a formidable opponent. I must get ready to face him if we're going to stand a chance."

"He wants our military technology," Sacha informed her. "I already have the products ready for exhibition. I will send you the catalogue later."

"Please do." Cecilia's mind was already racing. The crown prince of Amazerian was a deadly foe, and she hated heading into this battle of wits unprepared. Contrary to popular belief, the Amazerian Empire wasn't just filled with warriors. Their leaders were crafty and cunning, applying the same ruthlessness they showed against monsters to the battlefield of trade and commerce.

This was not going to be an easy fight.

*

"We're finally home."

As much as I wanted to punch the air and cheer, I was much too exhausted. The fight in Sakha City had drained too much of my mana. I had recklessly summoned so many of my Constellation spirits at once that by the time the battle was over, I was running on empty.

Actually, I probably passed out before the battle ended. After the reinforcements arrived, the adults took over and I was relegated to rearguard duty. There wasn't much left for me to do, and my mana trickled away after a while. According to the amused adults, I had passed out on my feet.

Dad had taken care of a good number of monsters from his side, but he also received reinforcements, and together they managed to stem the tide until the military arrived and took over. It took another two days for the soldiers to exterminate the entire horde, but they finally stemmed the tide of demonic beasts and broke them.

Good thing there wasn't any rank A monster leading the horde this time, or we and the civilians trapped inside the city would have been screwed.

However, it wasn't the fight that rendered me so drained. I was also exhausted mentally, my mind suffused with so many bitter emotions.

I failed to save the village.

There was nothing surprising about that. As Dad said, I couldn't be in two places at once. By the time I woke up and regained consciousness, it was too late. When I rushed there, all I saw were ruins and corpses. The monsters had overrun the village shortly after Dad and I landed in Sakha City, tore open the barrier, and massacred the villagers within.

With all the villagers being elderly or farmers, they had no way of fighting back. Military intelligence estimated that they took less than fifteen minutes to fall.

Shinra and Guo Hao's village wasn't the only one. Across the countryside outside Sakha City, the story was the same. At least twelve other little villages had been destroyed. There were no survivors. I had held out hope that at least several of the villagers had run to the forest, to flee the approaching monsters, but that was a lost cause.

After all, the forests were inhabited by monsters as well. There was no safe place for the villagers to run to.

As the truth dawned on me, I found myself mentally and emotionally drained. The inhabitants of Sakha City might have been grateful to me, but I couldn't help wondering if the dead villagers were blaming us for their deaths.

"Stop thinking too much."

Dad suddenly patted my back, subtly urging me to continue walking. I realized I was standing in the way of the other passengers. We had just alighted from the plane that took us back to the Middle Kingdom. Several passengers were hurrying to catch their transit flights, while many others were heading toward the conveyor belt to collect their luggage. We should be joining them shortly, or so I absently reflected.

"You did the best you could. Nobody can fault you for that."

That was because anyone who would do so was dead.

"You served with distinction. Anyone who says otherwise is just trolling you." Dad paused for a moment. "I know you're still hung up over being unable to save the villages, but remember, you've saved many more lives in Sakha City. If you hadn't held the monsters off long enough before reinforcements arrived, they would have invaded the city. And thousands would die. Don't you remember what happened in Jing Tian City?"

The tragedy of Jing Tian City was still fresh in my mind, especially since I had experienced it firsthand. I had seen people die, had seen corpses of civilians in the street. I failed to save Alicia from an assassin's blade.

At the end of it all, at least one-third of Jing Tian City's population had perished, a significant number of the civilians unable to make it to the shelters before they were caught and mauled by monsters. The soldiers and combat mages had taken a fair amount of casualties too. I had seen my schoolmates slaughtered by mid-ranking monsters right before my eyes when rushing back to school.

The Dark Church…they were really going too far.

However…

"Isn't what happened to the villages a tragedy as well?" I asked bitterly.

"I won't deny that," Dad affirmed. "But the deaths were limited to hundreds instead of thousands. It was the only way."

"So now we are just treating people as numbers, huh?" I laughed, my voice dry and mocking. "Just nameless statistics, to be represented by data at the end of each fight? Doesn't that make our job meaningless?"

"Perhaps now you understand what it means to be a 'hero,'" Dad said. I turned to look at him sharply, but he was being serious. "There is no such thing as heroes. They are just idealized figures, held to some impossible pedestal through the imaginations of the adoring public. Their images are constructed to make them look infallible, so that civilians will have hope…have something to cling to and believe in even in the darkest of times. But as you know, reality is cruel. Life is harsh. We can't save everybody. There are times when we let those who believe in us down and leave them to die. But the public doesn't know that. The Federation only publishes our successes. They conceal our failures. After all, heroes cannot be seen as flawed or frail. We must remain a shining beacon of hope, for the whole of the Federation to remain united and not give in to despair."

He then looked at me.

"And you brought hope to the people of Sakha. Yeah, you failed to save the villagers. You didn't save Shinra or Guo Hao. But you saved the people in Sakha City. Remember the waiter who served us spicy cuisine in the hotel lobby? The local guide who tried to give us a tour in the city? The auntie at the souvenir shop? The pilots and air stewardesses at the airport? You saved them all. Do you think they would be alive if you weren't there to stop the monsters from entering the city?"

He slapped my shoulder.

"Hold yourself up proudly. Stop living under the illusion that you're some kind of hero, or god. Just do your best to save as many people as you can. If others imagine you as a hero, so be it. At least you can hold your head high in the fact that you saved them. As for those you fail to save…learn from your mistakes and do your best to prevent more deaths in future. I won't say it's always possible, and sometimes you'll be forced to make hard decisions like in Sakha City, but…there are always areas where we can improve. If we moved out faster, we might have been able to detect the horde of monsters earlier and evacuate the villages. I don't know. But it's useless to dwell on that for now. What has been done is done, and the only direction to look toward is the future. Move on. Don't weigh yourself with the guilt and regrets of the past – arm yourself with knowledge of the past and look toward the future."

He then paused.

"It's up to you to take my advice or not, but trust me…bearing all that guilt and burden…one day, you won't be able to take it. Your heart just won't be able to handle that kind of pressure. You're only human after all."

"…yeah."

Dad smiled and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I won't lie to you. There are nights were I can't sleep, where I'm just as frustrated as you at my own helplessness. I am ashamed to say that it will get easier as it goes on, but absolutely necessary. For if you don't harden your heart…you will just break apart emotionally. And I don't want that to happen to you."

"I'll do my best."

I nodded, trailing Dad a little as we headed toward the luggage pick-up point.

Then suddenly I realized someone was following us. Spinning around in alarm, I glared at the stalker.

"Ah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but your conversation was so interesting."

"Who…?"

He was a youth in his early twenties, about 1.8 meters tall, with wild hair and a golden headband and earrings. Despite the chilly air conditioning of the airport, he was dressed in quite flimsy clothing, a sleeveless vest that exposed his muscular chest and thick arms, and summer shorts. Tanned, olive skin and dark hair indicated the high possibility that he was a Latin American, or East European, but I couldn't be sure.

"My bad, my bad. I'm a tourist from the Amazerian Empire. This is my first time to one of the countries in the Global Federation, and I'm pretty excited. So I'm moving around and exploring." He grinned. "Wow, so you took part in the defense of Sakha City a few days ago? I never would have thought."

"I didn't do much," I said. Dad rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"I'm sure you did. I thought the mages of the Global Federation weren't real warriors, but I must revise my opinion of them." he held out a hand, and after staring at it for a few seconds, I took it. His grip was firm and crushing, and I could sense the tremendous amount of power coiled in his arm. However, I didn't grimace. Not wanting to play the game, I merely exuded just enough mana to protect my fingers from breaking.

"Not bad, not bad. I didn't think I would meet mages or your caliber in the Federation. And someone at your age, too. You can't be any older than twenty, and yet you're already this level. My eyes have been reopened."

"My son's an exception," Dad remarked, amused.

"Really? We should exchange contact information then. I would like to spar with you someday…" He was about to whip out his smartphone when he suddenly blanched. "Uh oh…I should go now. Don't worry, I'll contact you to arrange a match when I can."

Then he took off, leaving me to stare at him in puzzlement. Seconds later, right after he disappeared, a large group of men in suits and sunglasses marched into the area, looking around frantically.

Evidently, the guy was being chased.

"Let's go." Dad was grinning for some reason. Not wanting to waste any more time, especially since I was so tired, I nodded and followed him to pick up our luggage.