For the next two days after the notice came, Sam continued his daily routine of vanity. While the city is filled with all the Generals and commanders along with the war heroes. All of them came and the imperial palace booked the best inns in the whole city for them.
After two days the imperial court will be conducted openly to reward every one of the war heroes.
On that day, Sam first gave a bunch of spatial rings to Rana along with a scroll.
"These are addresses, I want them to be delivered to them as fast as you can. I hope nothing wrong will go on with it and if it does, you better try your best not to let me know of this."
With that, he and Arman went to the imperial grounds, where the open court is going to be held. Sam showed his golden scroll to the imperial attendants and he was guided to a seat. Sam is still wearing the black-feather coat. But he felt like he was underdressed when he saw the rest of the people.
The people surrounding are all wearing some extravagant clothes, but they are all wearing clothes of the same type of color with only slight differences.
He asked a familiar soldier and found out that this is the military ceremonial uniform they got just recently. Sam really liked the clothes they are wearing. As he was contemplating if he should also make some rules regarding the ceremonial clothes in his city, the imperial attendant came and announced the arrival of the Emperor.
Everyone stood up and saw the Naga in dark violet scales with gold and crimson hues.
The Empress whose scales are Golden in color is walking beside him while the princes and princess along with the Imperial stewards and Eunuchs all followed along.
Everyone bowed to the emperor and only after he sat down did everyone take their seats.
Sam could see the respect everyone is showing is not just a show, they are really respectful of the emperor and that respect is not just out of fear.
It has been a while since he saw this. Arc has this kind of respect in the Western continent and even Sam has this from his subordinates, particularly the old subordinates.
After sitting down, the minister who took up the role of the MC of this special ceremony started giving a long speech, and finally, the emperor got a chance to speak.
"Greetings, My subjects.
Today we have all gathered here for an auspicious event. The war between the Mov and the Rubrum has been going on for hundreds of years and I have been a part of this war for a long time. The result was always a tie.
We could barely occupy one another’s small villages and recapture them once again.
Apart from that, there is not much progress in any other aspects regarding this war. It was stuck and we tacitly agreed to fight every year, never giving up.
But this year, we have broken the balance. The people from the Rubrum even resorted to some ideas that are too evil and fiendish. They experimented on themselves and fed on the blood of the humans and Nagas alike creating abominations that can trump over their peers and feed on them.
But those abominations weren’t able to do anything. They weren’t able to defeat the prideful soldiers of our nation. We not only defeated them, but we also occupied five cities.
This year in this war, our soldiers have shown great promise and made our nation proud. The rubrum Empire that was impregnable all these years was finally defeated. So, we are here to reward the contributions of those soldiers."
When his speech was over, the minister once again took over and started reading the soldiers names, achievements, and their ranks along with the battalion and regiment they were supposed to be in.
The soldiers sitting in the same row as Sam all went up and took their rewards.
Even though there are more than a hundred people and it is taking a lot of time. But the emperor still stood there and gave the badges and rewards that are going to be the symbol of the honor they gained through the battle.
But even after all the accolades were given, Sam’s name was still not there.
He was not called and he just sat there.
All this while, they were a pile of golden scrolls on the podium the minister is standing and each scroll was the list of achievements of the soldiers. Along with the badge and others, the scroll was also given to them.
But even when the whole pile disappeared Sam’s name never came out. The minister went on with the rest of the program, awarding the commanders and the generals and even then Sam’s name never came.
Sam looked at Yodha, the General and the regiment commanders who sat in a different row, they are also looking towards him with a frown. Their expressions said that they also don’t know what is happening.
Sam recalled the soldiers’ achievements that were already on the stage. None of his achievements were read. That means, no one stole them, but his name still disappeared.
Sam’s expression grew colder and colder as time passed.
At this moment, an attendant came over and passed a small slip of paper to him and in it, there is a message.
"Dream all you want. But I will steal everything that mattered to you."
Sam frowned and looked around, there is no one around and he couldn’t feel anyone’s gaze on him. No one seemed to be observing him, but they are still doing so.
He called back the attendant and wanted to ask, but all he got in reply was a sneer and silence. Sam became angrier by the second and closed his eyes to calm down.
He started thinking about the situation and what the other party might have wanted of him. There is definitely a hidden agenda, he just has to figure out what it is. What would they want from Sam that they even sent the message to him in the middle of the ceremony?
He came to some conclusions and the most feasible of them is that the other person might have wanted him to suffer. His hard-earned achievements are taken away, he would be suffering already and they just wanted to increase his suffering and make him torment himself in silence.
And why would that happen? Because no one would dare question a ceremony that the emperor himself participated in. Everything should be perfect and even if a person suffers he would just take it lying down as it would be dangerous in the face of the emperor.
Any normal person would the same. But he is no normal person. It is Sam.
Sam abruptly stood up and started walking away. There is a special way in the side for attendants to move and that would be the way that should be taken if someone has to leave in emergencies so that it wouldn’t look bad on the ceremony.
But Sam walked to the main aisle in the center and started walking out with his head held high.
Everyone’s attention was on him.
The guards moved and blocked him while the minister stopped his speech, even the emperor is looking at him with a frown.
"Where do you think you are going?"
The imperial guard who is a middle-aged man asked Sam coldly.
"I think I am in the wrong place. I think was not supposed to be here. So, here I am leaving to not to overstay my welcome."
"What are you talking about? If you are not supposed to be here, you wouldn’t have been able to come here."
"You better give a proper explanation. Not respecting the emperor can be charged with treason and the treason could only lead to one thing. Execution."
The minister who is in charge of the speech said loudly.
Sam didn’t look at the minister and said to the imperial guard.
"This might be the reason I was here. To be executed."
"What do you mean by that?"
Sam took out a spatial ring and gave it to the imperial guard.
The imperial guard took out a golden scroll and a bunch of battle reports along with Sam’s military identity and looked through them with the rest of his guards.
All of them were stunned as they saw this. They didn’t expect that someone with this many accomplishments would leave in the middle of the ceremony, wouldn’t this make his glorious moment, but his frown grew deeper as he looked at Sam.
His black attire is too eye-catching, there is no way he would miss if someone dressed like that with those achievements came on to the stage. There can only be one reason, something is wrong here. This guy might have felt his pride took a hit, particularly when he was invited with a specialized golden scroll.
He looked at the minister on the stage coldly and looked at the emperor.
The emperor was silent all this while and gestured calmly. There is not a single expression on his face that could betray his thoughts.
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