Chapter 325
The moment they entered the Imperial Palace, Kiriya’s group nearly walked straight into a large formation of soldiers dressed as Imperial Guards.
Both sides stopped.
For several awkward seconds, they simply stared at one another.
Seeing that something was wrong, Esdeath raised a hand and was just about to clear these irritating obstacles out of the way when an anxious shout came from behind the soldiers.
"Please wait!"
A white-haired old man hurried out from the crowd, his beard just as gray as the hair on his head.
He looked to be at least in his sixties, and by the time he reached them, his forehead was covered in sweat.
"Please don’t misunderstand. These men are not remnants of the old Empire. They are soldiers of the newly reorganized army and have no intention of becoming your enemies."
The old man was panting so heavily that he could barely get the words out, but he still forced himself to explain the situation.
"There’s no rush. Take your time."
Kiriya was kindhearted enough that watching an old man struggle for breath like this made him a little uncomfortable, so he offered the reassurance.
The old man’s eyes immediately lit up.
"You must be Lord Kiriya! Please, please, this way. I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time."
His enthusiasm was so excessive that anyone who didn’t know better might have assumed Kiriya was his superior.
"You are...?"
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
"Oh! My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself."
The old man straightened his clothing and cleared his throat.
"My name is Donald. I served for several years as chief steward of the Imperial Palace under the previous regime. You may simply call me Little Don."
"Little... ahem."
Kiriya looked at the man’s snow-white hair and beard and found himself completely unable to say it with a straight face.
"I think I’ll just call you Old Don."
He glanced around.
"You said you used to manage the palace? Then I assume you know this place pretty well."
"Of course!"
Donald thumped his chest confidently.
"No one understands the Imperial Palace better than I do."
"Perfect. Then I’ll have to trouble you to show us around."
Kiriya smiled.
"It’s our first time visiting a place like this. We’d like to look around and broaden our horizons."
"Hehe. It would be my honor to serve you."
Donald bent deeply at the waist, his posture exceptionally respectful.
"Please follow me."
He then led the way.
The group walked for more than ten minutes, passing through gate after gate and crossing long, winding corridors before finally stopping in front of an enormous set of doors.
"This was the private treasury of the former Emperor."
Donald gestured toward it.
"It contains his personal wealth and valuables. If any of you are interested, you are welcome to have a look."
As he spoke, he took out a key and unlocked the doors.
The moment a narrow gap appeared—
brilliant golden light burst out from within, nearly blinding everyone.
When the doors finally opened completely and revealed the treasury in its entirety, Kiriya and the others almost had to shield their eyes.
Gold.
Everywhere they looked, there was dazzling gold.
Priceless jewelry and golden treasures lay scattered throughout the chamber.
Outside this room, any single piece could have driven countless people mad with greed.
Here, however, they were piled up as casually as bricks.
Kiriya had never really understood what people meant by wealth that could rival a nation.
Now he finally had some sense of it.
"Haaah..."
Even Ryuu, Jeanne, and Esdeath found their breathing becoming slightly heavier at the sight of so much gold and jewelry.
They normally had little interest in such things.
But apparently every woman had at least a little dragon blood flowing through her veins, because none of them possessed much resistance to glittering treasure.
Neither Kiriya nor Donald even needed to encourage them.
The three women immediately wandered over and began picking up whatever pieces caught their interest.
"This is fine, right?"
Kiriya asked while browsing through the treasures himself.
"Hm? Of course."
Donald answered without hesitation.
"They are merely lifeless objects. They cannot be eaten when hungry or worn for warmth. Leaving them here only wastes space."
He smiled.
"If the young ladies like anything, they should take whatever they wish."
This was, of course, a lie.
It was true that gold and jewels could not be eaten or worn as clothing, but they were perfectly useful as starting capital for the Empire’s public projects.
Roads and bridges.
Dams and canals.
Disaster relief.
Employment programs.
Which of those did not require money?
But some matters were simply more important than others.
If these lifeless treasures could be exchanged for the goodwill and friendship of an overwhelmingly powerful individual, then that was an excellent bargain.
Gold could always be earned again.
But if they missed the chance to cling onto a thigh as absurdly thick as Kiriya’s, they would regret it for the rest of their lives.
Take it!
Take as much as you want!
Donald honestly would not have cared even if Kiriya emptied the entire treasury, so long as this terrifyingly powerful man continued to view them favorably.
Truthfully, Donald had even considered selecting a few hundred beautiful young women and presenting them to Kiriya as a gift.
Then he remembered the three women already standing beside him.
None of them looked remotely easy to deal with.
For the sake of his own continued survival, Donald wisely abandoned the idea.
Kiriya could more or less guess what the old man was thinking, but he did not find it particularly offensive.
Weak people had their own way of surviving.
If their positions were reversed, Kiriya wasn’t even sure he could have been as generous as Donald was being now.
"Kiriya, what do you think of this one?"
Esdeath approached holding a ring set with a deep blue gemstone.
"Does it look good?"
She sounded unusually expectant.
"It suits you."
Kiriya nodded approvingly.
"Matches your whole vibe."
"Good."
Esdeath smiled.
"Then I’ll take this one."
She placed the ring in Kiriya’s palm.
"Put it on for me."
Then she extended her slender right hand toward him, practically pushing her ring finger straight through the ring herself.
"All right, all right..."
Kiriya smiled helplessly and slipped the ring onto her finger.
"Hahaha! I win!"
Esdeath clenched her fist and proudly showed the ring off to Ryuu and Jeanne.
Kiriya immediately felt two icy gazes stab into his back.
They were cold enough to freeze him solid.
"Ahem."
Donald turned away and began studying an ant on the floor with intense concentration.
’Oh my. Fascinating. What an unusual species. Truly worthy of careful research.’
Kiriya, meanwhile, pretended not to notice anything.
He looked toward Jeanne and Ryuu.
"Have you two picked anything yet? Want me to help put yours on too?"
"No."
"I can do it myself."
Both women instinctively hid their hands behind their backs as they refused, which only made their reactions look even more suspicious.
Kiriya’s smile immediately became meaningful.
Jeanne and Ryuu both glared at him.
"Ahem. Old Don."
Kiriya hurriedly changed the subject.
"Does the Imperial Family have anything that can permanently strengthen a person’s body?"
"Something like medicinal baths, potions, or anything along those lines?"
The three women immediately turned toward Donald with interest.
This was a topic all of them cared about.
"Uh..."
Donald blinked.
"You still need something like that?"
The man could already erase mountains for fun. What exactly was left to strengthen?
Kiriya narrowed his eyes slightly.
"What? Is there a problem?"
"No, no, of course not!"
Donald immediately shook his head.
"I was merely surprised that someone who has already reached your level still trains so diligently and continues striving toward even greater heights."
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
His face filled with admiration.
"Truly, you are a model for all martial artists. I am deeply impressed."
There was a reason this man had once been chief steward of the Imperial Palace.
His flattery was refined enough to make people genuinely comfortable hearing it.
"So does something like that exist or not?"
Kiriya pressed.
"Yes."
Donald thought for a moment before nodding.
"The Imperial Family has preserved a medicinal formula for nearly a thousand years."
"According to legend, it was used by the founding Emperor during his early years of training and is capable of greatly tempering and strengthening the body."
Donald’s expression became serious.
"It was through this method that the founding Emperor supposedly forged the strength that allowed him to become the greatest warrior of his era and establish the Empire that endured for the next thousand years."
"There actually is one!"
Esdeath’s eyes immediately lit up.
Then another question occurred to her.
"But if that’s true, why do we almost never hear about later Emperors becoming powerful warriors?"
"The formula has several severe restrictions."
Donald sighed.
"It requires many extremely rare and expensive medicinal ingredients."
"More importantly, it also requires the flesh and blood of Special-Class Danger Beasts or stronger as the primary catalyst."
"Those materials alone are exceedingly difficult to obtain. Some cannot be found no matter how much money you possess."
He paused before continuing.
"And even if all the ingredients are gathered, the medicine itself is extremely violent."
"It places enormous demands on both the user’s physique and willpower."
"If someone with an insufficient foundation tries to use it recklessly, there is a very high chance the medicine will backfire and cause their body to rupture from within."
"That’s exactly what we need!"
Kiriya and the three women exchanged glances.
The same delighted realization appeared in all of their eyes.