Rise of the Legendary Emperor

"What's wrong, Joel?" When Don saw Joel's face, he knew something had happened. Joel noticed the newcomers and waited for Don to come outside to speak openly.

"Excuse us" Since they were in the middle of healing Francis Lucroy, Don excused himself and followed Joel behind to the outside leaving Knight behind.

"Your majesty, I just heard the news from my men about Miss Grega" Don doubted something might have happened to Grega when the dwarves informed him about the delay in the shipment from Gabriella. According to Dhursir, the shipment of fur coats, clothes, herbs for Kayako, and the coins from selling the dwarven forged armors and weapons should have reached Agoria two weeks ago. Considering the winter wasn't going to get any better soon, Everlight needed those supplies to keep the citizens from dying in cold and diseases.

That was why Don ordered Joel to look into Gabriella's whereabouts. Before this, Joel was constantly updating Knight with the ongoing tension between Grega's merchant guild and its rival, the Thunder Hearts. After connecting the dots of the shipment delay and Joel's anxious reaction, Don guessed the delay might have something to do with the Thunder Hearts.

"My men were having a hard time following Miss Grega when she started to travel through the sea in her Cargo ship but since Miss Lia built us a ship, my men were able to follow her on the sea without alerting Miss Grega. A few minutes ago, Miss Catalie received a message from my men, they said that the Thunder hearts had suddenly surrounded Grega's ship and formed a shield around the area. Your majesty, no ships could get in or out of the area"

"What about Gabriell, did they attack her ?" Arrora knew the importance of the trade relationship between Gabriella's guild and Everlight, therefore, she worried this might bring trouble to Everlight and the people. Plus, Gabriella and the girls in Everlight became good friends and Arrora didn't want to lose a friend.

They didn't, Lady Arrora. It seems like the Thunder Hearts are keeping them afloat for some reason. My men cant get closer to the situation without exposing themselves and if they did, the Thunder Hearts will likely bombard them"

"Where is Reghys? We need to know more about this shield before planning our next move"

"I'll try to contact her through Khal" Arrora tried to establish a connection to Reghys but there was no response coming from the other side.

"Contact Cat" Reghys would always answer if anyone contacted her though Khal and when Don saw Arrora was unable to contact her, he started to worry because if Reghys disappeared, it would be a huge problem than Gabriella's situation.

"Catalie, where is Reghys? I can't connect her to her Khal, is she there?"

"Where else she would be? Wait a second, I'll check the Apex hall" Catalie's childish voice sounded in Arrora's ears.

"Weird...Uncle Ken, where is Reghys?"

"I thought she went to meet his majesty" Followed by Catalie's voice, Arrora heard Ken.

"Ask Grey, she may have an idea where might have Reghys gone"

"Arrora, Reghys is not at her workplace, I'll check with Grey and contact you in a jiffy" Don noticed Arrora's expression turning serious and realized something's very wrong here.

"Reghys is not at her workplace" Arrora informed Don.

"She might have gone to check on her Egg?" 

"No" Arrora shook her head "She would always inform Catalie when she leaves and never failed to answer her Khal"

"Alright, you go to Everlight and try to find Reghys. I'll deal with the Thunder Heart situation"

"Yes, your majesty" Arrora nodded and disappeared from the Lucroy mansion leaving only a trail of dust as Don turned to look at Joel.

"Where are our men and Gabriella?" 

"They are at the Rainy Ocean between Star and Moon Empire, Your Majesty"

"Go inform Arwen, we're going to the Rainy Ocean"

****************************

Meanwhile, in the middle of an ocean, a large ship was surrounded by ships with flags that had red lightning symbols. The ship in the middle had the symbol 'G' on its flag. On the ship, people were running around the upper deck and keeping the masts from being destroyed by the stormy winds. While one group was struggling with the wind, the other was busy dealing with the heavy downpour. Under the wind and rain, a middle-aged man and a young girl stood on the captain's deck. The two of them were staring at the lines of ships that surrounded them but their gazes were particularly focused on the two ships that had large chains going into the sea below them.

"Beautiful isn't it?" A downhearted smile emerged on the man's face as he reached his hand out and gathered raindrops in his hand.

"I wanted to travel to many places, meet different people and experience my life to the fullest when I started this guild"

"Father" the young girl beside the man wrapped her hands on his chest and rested her head on his shoulder while looking at the ships before them.

"Gabi, when they start attacking, escape however you can. I'll hold them off"

"No way father! Either we live together or die together" the girl was none other than Gabriella Grega and the man was her father, the founder of Grega Merchant guild, Flavius Grega.

"Don't be a fool, Gabi! If they catch you, they will sell you to the slave traders. I'd rather see my daughter die than live as a slave" As they were arguing, a guard came running to them.

"Lord Flavius, there's a boat with two men on aboard coming towards us"

"Grant them permission to come aboard, it's not like we have a choice" Flavius ordered the man and walked towards the Captain's cabin with Gabriella to meet the two men who were coming to negotiate their surrender from the Thunder Hearts guild.

After they came to the captain's cabin and waited for a few minutes, Gabriella saw a man and woman entering the cabin. The woman had a small box made of gold and decorated with valuable gems in her hand.

An expert merchant like Gabriella could tell the box is extremely valuable and wondered what's inside.

The man and woman took the seats before them.

"Lord Flavius, I'm Shiyon and this is Flemming" the woman introduced themselves to Flavius but only got a cold nod as an answer for Flavius.

Despite his cold look, the woman still had a grin on her face

"Lord Flavius, we don't like a war between our Guilds anymore than you do" Gabriella sneered inside looking at Shiyon's shameless words and expression on her face.

"Somehow I doubt that, Miss Shiyon. What more do you want from us?" The Thunder hearts had already taken most of their businesses and trades and the only trade that kept the Grega merchant guild from going out of business was their business deal with Everlight. Grega's merchant guild was not the only victim of the Thunder Hearts but many small guilds were also swallowed by them. The guilds that resisted and refused to join the Thunder Hearts were destroyed by them overnight. Their ruthless actions turned them into one of the powerful Merchant Guilds in the Moon Empire.

"On the contrary Lord Flavius, we are here to give you something" Shiyon slid the golden box towards Flavius

"Our Guild Master wants you to deliver this to King Don with your supplies" Both Flavius and Gabriella were stunned by Shiyon's words and stared at the golden box suspiciously.

"Why can't you give this to him directly? And also, what's inside?"

"We would have but we have no prior relationship with King Don. As for your other question, let's just say, it's a valuable antique our Guild Master collected over many years" However Flavius snickered and pushed the box back to her

"I'm not born yesterday Miss Shiyon, if it's a gift and you want a business relationship with King Don, you would have done without involving us "

"How about this" this time, instead of Shiyon, the man beside her opened his mouth.

"If you don't do this, we'll sink this ship with you and your men" Fleming openly threatened them as the guards inside the cabin became agitated.

"Calm down Flemming, Lord Flavius is a merchant, he knows a good deal when he sees one" Shiyon said, looking at Flemming and turned her gaze back to Flavius and Gabriella.

"Lord Shiyon, do this and we'll leave you and your guild alone. You can keep selling the dwarven made armors and weapons and make a fortune"

Flavius stared at the box and his daughter for a few moments while Shiyon remained with a grin on her face.

Flavius understood that there's no better option than this and if they still refuse, not only he would die but also his daughter. Therefore his mind told him to do what they had told him to and deliver this to King Don. However, what made him think so hard was Don's reputation, he was not known for his mercy and Flavius knew that if the box contained something evil and Don found out, he would kill both him and his daughter. In either situation, his chance of survival was not great but taking the box in front of him now would give him time to think and plan his next move.