Over the past period, the world had witnessed devastating events. A gigantic black beast had appeared in one region of the continent and begun destroying numerous cities and small kingdoms that lay in its path. Yet even more terrifying than the physical destruction it left behind was what followed in its wake: it devoured an enormous number of people, leaving vast regions almost completely devoid of human life in an astonishingly short time.
The panic that spread from the beast's path quickly reached lands far beyond the affected regions. Even those who had never seen the creature with their own eyes heard enough from the testimonies of survivors and fleeing caravans to convince them to abandon their homes before the same fate reached them.
In recent days, countless caravans of refugees fleeing the horrors of the beast had arrived at the Blue Dragon Kingdom, exhausted and burdened with whatever possessions, memories, and fears they had managed to carry. As it had done ever since its founding, the kingdom welcomed these refugees without hesitation or unnecessary bureaucracy, integrating them into its population. This policy had existed since the reign of the founding king, Ayato, who established it during his lifetime until it became an inseparable part of the kingdom's identity and the way it treated outsiders. Every monarch who succeeded including the current fourth king of the royal line had faithfully upheld the same tradition.
However, this rapid influx of refugees inevitably brought a measure of instability to certain regions of the kingdom. Such disturbances were only natural when such large numbers of exhausted and distressed people arrived within such a short period. To preserve order and prevent conflicts from arising under these exceptional circumstances, well-trained security units were deployed throughout the kingdom.
Sato placed the report on the table after carefully finishing its contents, then leaned back in his chair as he evaluated everything he had read.
"It seems that child is managing things quite well."
The current king of the Blue Dragon Kingdom was his grandson the son of his daughter, who had married the grandson of King Ayato after the latter had been raised within the family's training program since childhood. This marriage had never been an ordinary family arrangement. It had been one of the original pieces in the long-term design Dan had envisioned for the kingdom.
A law had been established within the royal family, which now officially bore the name House Ayato in honor of the founding king. According to that law, no king was permitted to reign for more than thirty years. Once that period ended, he was required to abdicate in favor of the successor who had already been prepared to inherit the throne. After stepping down, his future became entirely his own decision. If he wished to return to the Walt Family's headquarters to train and pursue whatever interested him, he was free to do so. If he chose another path, that too was entirely his decision.
The reason behind this limitation was simple. Through generations of intermarriage between the royal bloodline and the Walt Family, members of the royal house now carried Walter blood within them. As a result, they no longer aged at an ordinary human rate, nor did they suffer physical or mental decline in the same manner as rulers from ordinary lineages. Therefore, thirty years of effective rule was more than sufficient to accomplish everything expected during a single reign, without allowing any monarch to become a burden upon the kingdom or cling indefinitely to the throne.
If someone unfamiliar with the current king's identity were to meet him for the first time, they would notice almost no difference between him and the members of the Walt Family. His sky-blue hair and blue eyes were identical to theirs, and like his siblings, he had awakened the Walt Family's unique kekkei genkai after growing up in the same environment. After all, his mother was Sato's daughter.
The next king had already been chosen in advance. When the time came for the current monarch to abdicate, his younger brother would inherit the throne. In every meaningful way, the two were virtually identical. Both had been born and raised within the Walt Family before returning to fulfill their responsibilities in the kingdom. This would remain the standard for every future generation. Every future monarch would be selected from this intertwined branch formed by House Ayato and the Walt Family.
At the very moment Sato set his report aside and continued reviewing the kingdom's situation in his mind, another meeting was taking place elsewhere because of the very beast responsible for the refugee crisis and widespread devastation.
Within the Senju Clan, the elders had gathered for a major council at their headquarters. The clan's most influential figures had assembled to discuss the appearance of the enormous black beast and determine how it should be dealt with.
The current Senju Patriarch no longer believed that silence and inaction were acceptable responses to what was happening, even if the beast's current territory remained far from their own lands and posed no immediate threat to them. A creature capable of devouring humans by the thousands and emptying entire cities could not be ignored forever simply because it happened to be far away. The Patriarch understood that what was distant today would not necessarily remain distant forever.
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