Kim knew very well that the court would be against him, his mom had died a long time ago, leaving him only support of eight ministers, all were dark skinned like himself, they equaled to a third of the power in court, but they were all in the border lands, as their counties were on the periphery of the empire, they were there to keep the four royal governors under check, to prevent an undesired uprising. The king knew that this was all the support Kim had, but he had to let the young generation grow on its own.
His four soldiers would not enter the court as it was law, even all his weapons, he wouldn't meet the king armed. The entire court watched attentively as he walked on and knelt Infront of the throne.
"Kim, the third prince greets your majesty, the king!" He said.
"Rise, we can now proceed with the vote, these ministers will show me what they think about you being a magician." Darius said.
"I'll accept the result of the vote without any complaint my king!" Kim replied.
"Ok, let the vote begin!" Darius said.
An eunuch stood and declared the procedure for the vote, those who supported the prince to do a class change would shout out ' I support' or otherwise.
Kim didn't look at them, he knew that he had no support when his half brothers voted in his favour, out of the twenty four man court, over eight were absent, but a vote would be successful if one got fifteen votes in court, but there were lesser than fifteen already, the king seemed indifferent after seeing the result of the board.
"Kim, you said you'd accept the result, well here it is, you are supposed to report to your commander next month, make sure you see to it, you have to also be prepared for the next festivities, all the four of you will be there, to show your skills to the nobles, to show me how far you've got in training. Court is dismissed!" King Darius said.
"I accept your verdict my lord!" Kim said, he seemed indifferent, hw had learnt not to show his emotions, he knew his grief was someone's joy, he had swore not to give anyone that joy. He walked outside, were his three fellow ghost hunters and soldier were waiting. They seemed to know what had happened so they didn't ask, they went to his chambers immediately.
"I was outplayed, I lost the day they put up the motion, I rushed, but for now we got to do something else, we need a magician, a wind or light type magician on the team will improve our success in raids, in order to contend against higher ranked magician teams, we need to grow stronger!" Tan said.
"We understand, but it will be hard to get someone strong and trustworthy, we may even get someone from their side, ruining our plan!" Ribu said, he was a ghost hunter, whose element was earth, his twin sister also had the same element, while Cloe was a water elementalist, the fourth member was Iron, a soldier skilled in stealth and speed, he was the also had a c rank affinity for magic, but had been drafted into the army instead, his parents were soldiers, and he didn't want to have a rank above them.
Iron entered the room with a box, it had many badges, all with a bead on its face.
"The Ghost General of the West has sent these, they are worth a mansion in East Diyan, he said it's urgent, on the outskirts of Diyan, he said a village is already down!" Iron said.
"Okay, let's set off at once, we have to be back in less than a month, we should teach the soldiers there how to fight back!" Kim said.
"Okay, let me get a batch of weapons, for the villagers, around a hundred may be enough, ten for each village will be enough!"Close said.
Rina and Ribu began packing up potions, and talismans, these had spellpower, they carried certain spells, like explosion, softening, stiffening and other negative conditions, others were for speed boast, healing and strength. These weren't used by ghost hunters, as they could cast these basic spells, they could even cast healing. The soldiers would occasionally throw spells, heal and manifest magic shields after drinking a potion.
The Ghost hunters needed no potions, they could cast these spells easily, and each ghost hunter created their own spells, they had to fight monsters every month, and the monster cores would be extracted. The core was very useful, potions, weapons and all other magical instruments had monster cores in them, and the flesh could be eaten if found edible and non toxic.
Rina and Ribu were set. Kim called for Cloe, Iron also came and they headed to the teleportation portal. They were bound westwards. The governor was waiting for them at the portal, the soldiers around him showed panicked expressions when they saw that the people they were waiting for were very young.
"I for one, welcome you to this humble countryside. I know it feels bad but I beg of you to first check on the village, I can't sleep without knowing the level of the threat!" Governor Erizak said.
"It's understandable, we shall check on it and ensure it's turned into magic cores!" Ribu said.
"We need a magician. As you see we are a member short. It'll be really bad if we don't have a long ranger!" Kim said. "I am the captain of this group!"
"Well, I was impolite I never got to know you, I am the governor of Rengren, Erizak. As you know there is low talent in the countryside, it's hard to find a magician." Erizak said.
"Oh, it'll be too bad, we can just wait for the general to send one from the East!" Kim said." Guys, let's go check the village!"
"Yes sir, we need a map, we can't blindly move around, preferably one showing the terrain." Cloe said.
"I knew you'd need one, so I had one brought for you. And these are passes to my castle, after you are done. We'll be waiting for good news." Erizak said.