Lord Of Doom!Reincarnated Into a Novel as the Strongest Side Character-Chapter 68: Majestic

Kenji and Sakura arrived about thirty minutes later, encountering the Imperial Guards standing in front of the inn. Numerous commoners were staring at them in awe, curious about whom these highly esteemed men had come for. However, many were frightened of them, as they were considered ruthless—special thanks to the hierarchy, of course.

"Why are they here?" Sakura asked, gazing around with a confused expression.

"Aren’t they the ones who killed those two men back at the market during the Emperor’s arrival?" Kenji added, tightly gripping his blade, his face reddening with anger.

"Yes. But what are they doing here?" Sakura inquired again, staring at the guards, who stood like humanoid statues. Even the flies, the greatest of all disturbers, were unable to make these men flinch. She was unaware of Kenji’s change of mood.

Gojin appeared behind them, adding to their discussion. For a moment, they were oblivious to his arrival.

"Affirmative. I think they’re here for that Gojin fellow, the handsome one, and his two Potters. Quite amusing, isn’t it?" he remarked, noticing how they were far from discovering him.

Kenji spoke calmly, inattentive to the tone of the voice that had just interrupted:

"Gojin and his Potters? You don’t mean us, right?"

Sakura added with a tone of uncertainty, "Yeah. Us?"

"I think so. Isn’t that just strange? They’re going to take us to the Imperial Palace. Can you imagine the treatment?" Gojin said, laughing inwardly.

"That little brat; he’s caused trouble again, and now it’s even worse, with the Emperor. Ahhh!" Sakura felt a sudden surge of tension, her heart thumping hard and her face turning ashen. She facepalmed, her eyes widening in horror as she imagined what they would soon face.

At that moment, Kenji had a quick instinct. Why was there a third voice in their discussion? One that closely resembled Gojin’s. He hurriedly turned around and saw Gojin chuckling.

"Really?"

Sakura was jolted back to reality; she also turned around and saw him. Suddenly, she began overreacting, gripping his hakama’s collar and shaking him back and forth like a mother chastising her child for being a failure. Truthfully, she considered him just that.

"What did you do? We’re all going to die now... you fool, did you scam the Emperor this time? How much?"

Scam?

Emperor?

Why would anyone in their right mind do such a thing? That would be suicide, the worst fate imaginable. Gojin held her hand, urging her to calm down, then said:

"Stop making a fuss. I didn’t do anything; we were just suddenly invited to the Imperial Palace, and they’re here to escort us. Don’t ask me why, as I’m yet to know. I was just waiting for your arrival so we can move."

"...Eh? Oh." Sakura said, laughing nervously as she realised the attention she had drawn. Many had diverted their gaze to the trio.

Kenji simply shook his head, still furious. He had already grown to despise the Emperor after the instant murder of his subjects back at the market when they first arrived in Heian-kyo about two weeks ago. Commoners here were unable to express their emotions, and this was detrimental to a ruler.

He had forgotten something important; this wasn’t the modern day, and here, such occurrences weren’t rare or new to the eyes. Many had been killed for even smaller offences that couldn’t even be considered crimes. In the modern world, where democracy and a lack of restraint upon human life existed, such acts would be controlled immediately by the supreme law of the land. Here, the Emperor was the supreme law, and he decided what happened next.

Nevertheless, he was right to feel for them and oppose this act. Even to others, it was a bad practice, and they could do nothing but accept it. One thing he was stubborn about: if he had the chance to murder the Emperor and get away with it, he would do it without a second thought. However, he realized that aiming for such a goal was foolish. Clearly, they had only one objective here: to defeat the demons, so none of this was of concern to them normally. But something deemed bad should remain the same, as he believed.

Well, who knew Kenji had suddenly gotten wiser? It seemed he had gained some extra brain cells to replace the almost dead ones.

Gojin and Sakura, on the other hand, were currently embroiled in an argument about who had caused more chaos since their arrival. Sincerely, Gojin shouldn’t be arguing; he was the prime master of all this.

Oh. The two had completely forgotten about the two men killed, their brains having reset since then. In fact, they never gave a damn after the third day of the incident, and many other commoners felt the same way.

"Enough!" Kenji finally settled their incessant arguments, silencing them. The two growled at each other, then backed away in annoyance, glaring as if in a silent competition.

***

A couple of hours later, they were already travelling back to the Imperial Palace, which turned out to be unexpectedly far. They were distancing themselves from any potential invasion, rebellion, or civil war that might break out. Gojin envisioned the attackers taking hours to kill every commoner and soldier deployed in the city before reaching the Imperial Palace. By that time, the Emperor would have already fled. The thought almost made him burst into laughter.

They were inside a carriage, with three majestic carriages following each other, each pulled by two horses. The Imperial Guards trailed behind on foot, surprisingly more numerous than expected.

The leader sat inside one of the carriages with the trio, facing them directly. The carriage bumped and shook as it moved slowly along the road.

The stern man stared at them like a security camera, hoping to catch a thief. They clasped their hands and legs together, sitting upright and staring back at him blankly.

Weird...

After a moment, a loud voice announced their arrival, followed by the grand opening of a double gate leading to the Imperial Palace, which was almost the size of a small town.

"We’ve arrived at the Imperial Palace."

As the gates were pulled open with heavy chains pulled by multiple men, assisted by large mechanisms that made the task easier, a sense of awe mixed with trepidation filled the air. The grandeur of the palace loomed before them.