Ashoka left Atlas's room after discussing how he could control his magic more effectively. As he walked away, he thought, I also have one more task to do, and that is figuring out how to win the voting. If John fails to kill him, then what will I do?
I have to think about a second plan, but the problem is that the voting starts tomorrow. I need to come up with Plan B.
The scene changed, and we saw John lying on the ground with a knife stabbed into his stomach. Blood was flowing from the wound. Around him were dozens of dead bodies.
John thought, I didn't think I would have to kill one hundred people just to kill one man.
I had assumed that the Prime Minister would have bodyguards to protect him, but I didn't think he would have one hundred trained assassins guarding him.
We then saw an incident from a while back when John entered the Prime Minister's room to kill him.
Shakuni was sitting on a chair, waiting for John.
He laughed and said, "I expected that the prince is not an ordinary boy who would simply wait for the voting. I also knew he would try to kill me."
John replied, "So even if you knew, what can you do alone?"
Shakuni smiled and said, "Do you really think that you and I are alone in this big room?"
John said, "No. I can sense the presence of assassins in this room."
Shakuni replied, "So you're not a fool. But you are an idiot if you think you can defeat one hundred trained assassins by yourself."
Then Shakuni ordered, "Go kill him."
Suddenly, one hundred assassins appeared inside the room.
Ten assassins attacked John with poisoned knives.
John dodged all of their attacks and appeared behind them. Holding a dagger in his hand, he said, "Do you think I'm a normal assassin? I started killing people when I was ten years old."
The next moment, all ten assassins' heads were cut off.
Shakuni was shocked and immediately ordered the remaining ninety assassins to kill him.
All ninety assassins attacked John with poisoned knives. John tried to dodge their attacks while killing them one by one.
Suddenly, one assassin stabbed his knife into John's stomach and laughed.
"Now you die, bastard. This poison will kill you within the next ten minutes."
John smiled despite the pain and said, "So I have ten minutes left."
Then he stabbed his dagger into the assassin's head, killing him instantly.
John jumped back and took two steps away.
"You all have only ten minutes left. Is there anything you want to say?"
The assassins shouted, "Shut up! That applies to you too!"
Then they attacked him again.
John smiled and said, "That's why I never wanted to return to that life."
Ten minutes later, John had killed every assassin in the room.
He looked at Shakuni and asked, "So now, who will protect you, Prime Minister?"
Shakuni replied, "You are indeed very skilled, but I think you chose the wrong side."
Then John suddenly collapsed to the ground.
Shakuni left the room and ordered two slaves, "Bury the body of that assassin who came to kill me on the prince's orders."
They answered, "Yes, sir."
John thought, Well, this was my last task, and I couldn't complete it.
Just then, the door opened.
An anonymous person entered the room and said, "You can't die right now, mister."
The person picked John up and left the room.
At the same time, we saw Shakuni thinking,
Now what will you do, Prince? There is no way you can collect more money than I have in a single day. This victory belongs to me.
The next morning, the voting began.
All the commoners of the Kingdom of Power came to cast their votes into the voting boxes.
The Queen and the Prime Minister sat in their seats, waiting for the results.
Ashoka stood behind the Queen's seat.
He was nervous.
The Prime Minister is still alive. That means John failed to complete the task. But where is John? I can't contact him. Don't tell me he was killed.
Meanwhile, Shakuni thought,
Yes, Prince. I am still alive. Did you really think you could kill me that easily with that assassin? Just wait and see. When I sit on the throne, control of the army will be in my hands. Then you can wait for my attack.
A few hours later, the voting ended.
The results would be announced in two hours.
Shakuni was very happy because he was certain he would win.
At that moment, we saw Ashoka speaking with John.
"Ashoka, I couldn't kill him," John admitted.
"Yes, sir. I have no excuse for my failure. But thanks to that girl, I am still alive. She arrived just in time, killed those two slaves, and saved me."
It was then revealed that the anonymous person was none other than Eli.
Eli said, "I was just passing by the Prime Minister's room when I heard him say, 'Bury the body of that assassin who came to kill me on the prince's orders.' I thought he must be important to you, Ashoka, so I saved him."
Ashoka thought,
Doesn't this girl want revenge? Then why did she save my man? Ah... well, I'll think about that later.
Ashoka said, "Eli, thank you for saving him. He is indeed very important to me."
Eli replied, "Don't thank me. This is my duty. Don't I also work under you? That means this man is my partner too, and it is my responsibility to protect my partner."
However, in her mind she thought,
I protected him because I want Ashoka to trust me more and not suspect me.
Just then, a voice announced,
"The voting results will be announced in two minutes."
Ashoka said, "Let's go outside and see who won."
They replied, "Yes, sir."
Ashoka and Eli went outside and stood behind the Queen's seat.
John remained in the room because he had not fully recovered.
Then the announcer said,
"The winner of the voting, who will become the next temporary ruler for four years, is..."
Shakuni almost stood up because he thought his name was about to be announced.
But then the announcer continued,
"The Queen has won the voting with a majority. Seventy percent of the votes went to the Queen's side, while thirty percent went to the Prime Minister's side."
Shakuni was shocked.
With an angry expression, he shouted,
"How? How can she win the voting? How?!"
Ashoka thought,
Shakuni, you are indeed intelligent and rich, but there is one thing you don't understand. I was a king in my previous life, and I handled situations like this many times. Money is important to people, but there is something even more important—something they would protect with their lives—and that is their family.
Then we saw that Ashoka had secretly kidnapped millions of children belonging to the people who came to vote.
Ashoka thought,
Did you really think I didn't have a Plan B? I never wanted to use it, but you left me with no other choice.
The results were officially announced.
"The next temporary ruler for four years is Queen Victoria."
Ashoka smiled and walked toward Shakuni.
"So, Mr. Prime Minister, it seems the Queen won and you lost."
Then Ashoka walked away.
Shakuni, however, was furious.
"You think this game is over, Prince? It's true that you defeated me, but that doesn't mean I've lost. I had planned to attack you after becoming king, but now you've made me angry. Start preparing yourself."
That night, we saw Shakuni meeting with several people.
He said, "I know your kingdom is suffering from starvation, but I can solve that problem if you deliver my message to your king. Take this chest with you. Inside are ten thousand gold coins."
One of the men replied, "Alright. We will deliver your message."
The next morning, Ashoka was talking with his mother.
"Mom, why are you so nervous?"
Queen Victoria replied, "Ashoka, I have become the temporary ruler, but I don't know how to handle state affairs. What if a war starts with another kingdom? What will I do?"
Ashoka smiled and said,
"Mom, why are you thinking so negatively? I can manage the state affairs. And as for war, that's a foolish concern. There is no way another kingdom would start a war because doing so would break the agreement. Any kingdom that breaks the agreement would have to fight all nine kingdoms at once. No kingdom would take that risk."
While Ashoka was speaking, the scene shifted to the Kingdom of Rock.
The king, Griffin, was speaking with his Prime Minister, Mark.
"So, Mark, what did you want to discuss?"
Mark replied, "Sir, some people have delivered a message. They said it came from the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Power."
Griffin became excited.
"Give me that message."
Mark handed him the letter.
After reading it, Griffin said,
"Mark, do you remember that two years ago I told you I had a plan to solve our kingdom's starvation problem?"
Mark nodded.
"Yes, sir. You said you had your eye on a certain kingdom."
Griffin smiled.
"The time has come to put that plan into action. Send orders to our commanders to begin training the army. We are going to attack the Kingdom of Power."
Mark was shocked.
"But, Your Majesty, if we do that, we'll break the agreement. Our kingdom will have to fight the other nine kingdoms. There is no way we would survive."
Griffin interrupted him.
"Do you really think I would say such a thing without a plan?"
He handed the letter to Mark.
"Read it."
Mark read the letter and was stunned.
"King... this... this is no ordinary letter. It says that the Kingdom of Power wants to break the agreement. There is even a royal seal from the Kingdom of Power attached to it. If we present this letter at the next Royal Gathering, we can attack the Kingdom of Power without facing any consequences."
Then Mark asked,
"But even if we attack, can we actually win? There is a reason the Kingdom of Power is ranked as the third strongest kingdom among the ten kingdoms."
Griffin replied,
"Don't worry. Some people inside that kingdom are already on my side. And when I say we attack, I don't mean immediately. We will attack after this year's Royal Gathering ends. There are still six months before the gathering takes place."
"The most important thing is that the Royal Gathering will be held in our kingdom this year."
He looked at Mark and continued,
"You have only one task. Order every commander in the kingdom to train our soldiers. We have only six months to prepare."
[DON'T SKIP THE NEXT CHAPTER BECAUSE THE FIRST WAR AMONG THE TEN KINGDOMS BEGINS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.]