They continued their journey. The environment was incredibly humid, with water pooling everywhere. It wasn't due to neglect, but rather the natural living conditions of the Gavian race.
Their journey was still far from over—reaching the royal palace would take at least three days on foot.
"Isn’t this just for guests? Why don’t we just find an inn instead? Why do we have to go to the royal palace?" William asked.
"Our king, currently the 17th ruler, prefers to greet guests directly at the royal palace," Pandi explained. "While we don’t possess regret like humans do, our king becomes very angry if new visitors aren’t brought to the palace."
"Even if they're not nobles?" William asked.
"Yes. The king won’t hesitate to punish anyone who fails to bring guests to the palace," Pandi continued. "Three years ago, a businessman came to the capital for trade, and the king immediately ordered many Gavian knights to bring him to the palace for a formal welcome."
"Was that just to attract businessmen?" William asked.
"Mm…" Pandi held his chin, thinking.
He tried to recall something. Pandi wasn’t sure if William's assumption was right. It didn’t seem likely the king would do such a thing only for business purposes. That wasn’t because Pandi was naive—he had experienced the same treatment himself. He once visited the capital just to see his brother-in-law, but before even reaching his house, many Gavian knights were already searching for him. They brought him to a palace banquet, and afterward, the king personally escorted him to his brother-in-law’s home.
Sudirja noticed Pandi's body language—it was as if he was deep in thought. He didn’t look worried, just confused.
"Was William's question ambiguous?" Sudirja asked.
"No, the question was fine. But there are two answers," Pandi clarified.
"You could've just answered instead of thinking like you’re using half of old man Randiman’s lifetime," William mocked.
"No need to be snarky," Pandi replied.
"Why did you say there are two answers?" William asked.
"I experienced the same treatment when I went to the capital. But statistically, your guess is probably correct," Pandi answered.
"You said there were two answers, but that means there’s only one. You’re so indecisive," William criticized.
"Oh, is that so?" Pandi responded, placing one hand on his hip and the other under his snout.
"There you go again with that irritating tone," William grumbled.
"Looks like this primitive fantasy world has already been infected by meme culture," Dion joked.
"Is that so?" Pandi replied with a smirk.
"Not funny, just annoying," William muttered.
"You sure about that~?" Pandi teased.
"Keep it up and I’ll smack that snout of yours!" William yelled.
"Oh no~ I’m scared~" Pandi teased again.
"Excuse me, are you guests from another fragthesis?" one of the Gavian knights ahead of them asked.
"Yes," Randiman replied.
"Very well, His Majesty King Andrian requests your presence at the royal palace," the five Gavian knights bowed respectfully.
"No, we’d rather stay at an inn," Sudirja politely declined.
The allied group—Dion, William, Prince Dein, and the three other kings—felt the same way. They were hesitant to accept the invitation. Coming to the palace uninvited, eating palace food without prior approval—it felt unethical, extremely rude, and disgraceful. Especially since no diplomatic ties had been established yet. They nodded in agreement with Sudirja.
Even so, the five Gavian knights didn’t care. They had to bring the guests to the palace. That was their command. However, they didn’t dare resort to force, as it was strictly forbidden.
"I knew it," Pandi squinted his eyes.
"Of course, Mr. Pandi must also come to the royal palace," one of the knights said, looking at Pandi.
"Yeah, I figured," Pandi nodded slowly.
"Why do you look so resigned?" William asked to Pandi.
"This is the 300th time I’ve been invited to the palace, and many of those times had no real importance," Pandi replied.
"That’s excessively nice," William muttered.
"What will happen if we refuse?" Prince Dein asked.
Hearing that, the five Gavian knights panicked. They didn’t want to die so soon. They wanted to die only when their time came. They knew their king’s temperament. If they failed to bring guests to the palace, they would be punished—severely. The lightest punishment: itu sasak—their bodies would be wounded with swords. Not ordinary swords, but those made from an exotic element called Jolmerium, one of 5 Exotic elements from mithril. The harshest punishment: death. Once their king delivered a verdict, there would be no mercy—not even the size of a hadron.
"Please don’t!" the five Gavian knights trembled.
"If you refuse, our king will severely punish the knights assigned, and will personally leave the palace to find the guests," Pandi explained.
"That strict!?" William exclaimed.
Pandi nodded.
"What if the palace doesn’t have enough space for all the guests?" Sudirja asked.
"Our king would rather leave the palace than let that happen. Besides, the palace has plenty of space for humans and warm-blooded races," Pandi replied.
"We’re 18,000 people," Prince Dein said, trying to make a point.
"Still leaves room to spare. Let me list some of the royal palace’s facilities: 38,000 residential units for warm-blooded races, five Great General Halls each capable of housing 8,000 Gavian individuals aged 10,000 years, five Great Semi-Aquatic Halls of similar size, and a knight training center that can host 8,500 Gavians aged 17,000 years," Pandi explained.
"What’s the size of a Gavian at 10,000 and 17,000 years old?" William looked at Dion.
"From the historical records I’ve read about the lost races, the Gavians have a body similar to a crocodile. But they must undergo a mandatory duel to avoid overpopulation," Dion explained.
"So they don’t die of old age?" William asked.
"That’s right. At 90,000 years old, we must engage in a mandatory battle," Pandi added.
"Okay, back to my question earlier—what’s the si—"
"At the mandatory battle age, the record said they stand at 455 meters tall, with a body width of 389 meters," Dion interrupted.
"Sheesh, they could swallow a human like drinking water," William quipped.
"Even though we’re carnivores, we only eat fish. We don’t eat humans!" Pandi protested.
"Don’t crocodiles starve to death if they don’t eat?" William asked.
"We can become fish farmers, so it’s impossible for us to starve—unless we’re poor," Pandi answered.
"Is there no other honorable way for you to control overpopulation?" Sudirja asked.
“We were actually fated, like the Antasen, designed by nature to be the natural enemies of demons. But after the experiment led by our 15th king failed, we tried again and failed again, until we ended with fragtesizing along with five neighboring nations,” Pandi explained.
"So humans have long been damaging nature, because you say nature designed you as natural enemies of demons?" William asked.
"Yes, that’s true. In fact, the oldest demon king is demon King Somo, while the youngest is demon King Semar. But in terms of power, demon King Somo is the weakest, and demon King Semar is the strongest of the twelve demon kings," Pandi explained.
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