Punishers

When Marcus saw Leon's palace guard outfit, he panicked. He had yet to understand the current situation, and he was trying to get to make sense of it.

So, it was obvious for him to be panicked after seeing a palace guard. Leon saw Marcus face and laughed inwardly, he knew, if he was in current circumstances, he would be in the same state as Marcus.

"Ahem!" Leon started a conversation and said. "Friend, I am Leon. We talked with each other inside the prison."

"But that's," Marcus backed off. He was skeptical of this man's word, "Impossible! Leon was being interrogated by Kesler, and I saw you with Lord Kesler at that time—Yes—You are definitely Kesler's lackey. What are you planning and Where is this place?"

"Listen!" Leon changed into his original appearance and explained. "I am Leon! That disguise was just an ability of mine, and whether you believe me or not has nothing to do with me. Besides, what would I gain by tricking you? I just saved your life, and you are free to go wherever you want."

Marcus thought about something for a moment, and he recognized Leon's voice too. Though he was still suspicious, he somewhat believed Leon's words.

"Then," Marcus asked, he wanted some explanation. "How we ended up here, and what is this place?"

Leon didn't care about Marcus's suspicion. He already had decided that when Marcus wakes up, he will ask some question and leave.

"We are out," Leon didn't want to beat around the bush and replied, with straightforward manner. "I just broke out that damn prison and took you along with me. We are few miles away from prison."

"How did you?" Marcus was surprised, he didn't believe that someone could break out from that place. "And What happened to Kesler then?"

Leon smiled, he thought about what happened back then. 'That was a really close call. I shouldn't put myself into such situations from now on.'

"Kesler is dead," Leon narrowed his eyes, and his face turned serious. "And soon, many will follow his footsteps. Though I don't have a beef with royal family and king, they are standing in my way."

Marcus was surprised and thought Leon was arrogant. How could someone casually say those words, if killing royal family was such an easy task, many wanted have done it already. But this man indeed seemed capable person, and he even killed Kesler—King's brother—and does possess some strange powers.

"Alright!" Leon lazily stretched his shoulders and looked at Marcus, then said. "I wanted to ask some simple questions before we go our separate ways."

Marcus was surprised, this man was just letting him go like that. Usually, when someone saves one's life they want something in return, but this man just wanted to ask some questions and let him go after that? Is there such a thing in this world? Even he wouldn't do that if he was in other person's shoes.

He didn't believe Leon's words but decided to answer his question anyway.

"Do you know?" Leon asked, narrowing his eyes. "Who is the strongest person in the kingdom?"

This was the question he wanted to know the most. If the enemy is way above his league, then he might have to come up with some plan or wait for his strength to grow. But if the enemy's strength is at the reasonable level, then he might as well find a way and kill the king as quickly as possible.

"That's I know," Marcus was confident, his eyes contained hatred. "The strongest person in the kingdom right now is King himself. A few months back king's uncle who was the strongest at that time broke through to the higher realm and left to Sun Moon Sect."

"So," Leon asked impatiently again. "What realm is he in now?"

It was the most important question if the king is stronger than expected, then he would ask Marcus for some help and establish himself here for some time.

Marcus was local here, and he even worked with the rebels. Though those rebels might be weak in strength, they definitely have established some network here.

"Well," Marcus hesitated and said. "I don't know his current strength, but he was at Origin Core late realm when I was thrown into prison a few months ago. I am absolutely sure of it."

"That's it?" Leon was surprised, his expression was getting brighter. "Mere Origin Core? How this kingdom is still flourishing with such weak king."

"You are underestimating royal family," Marcus wasn't surprised and expected Leon's reaction. "Though the king may seem weak, don't forget about his elders and ancestors at Sun Moon Sect, not to mention the punishers."

Leon's didn't know how many those elders from royal family stayed and watched over the kingdom, and if they don't, then killing the king shouldn't be much of a problem. If he is fast enough in his work, then he would be long gone before someone from sect arrives.

As for those punishers, he didn't know much about them. He was curious about this punisher thing so he decided to ask.

"Punishers?" Leon was confused, he didn't hear about this term before. "What are those?"

"Punishers Huh!" Marcus was resentful, and his eyes contained helplessness. "They are the one, who controls the workings and order of kingdom. Though they work for the royal family, they don't directly answer to the king. They are placed by elders to watch over the kingdom and answer to them directly."

Leon's face darkened, he didn't expect something like this to exist. It was as if elders of the royal family didn't put much trust in younger generations, and supervised the kingdom using those punishers.

"What about their strength?" Leon was having second thoughts, he asked. "And how many are they? Tell me about their workings."

"Punishers?" Marcus shocked, this man didn't know about punishers? "Well, punishers follow a complicated hierarchy. It goes from one ring to six rings. Those rings are tattooed in their forearms and signify their strength and authority.

Lower level ring punisher answers to higher ring one, and this goes from one ring holder to five ring holder. Those with six ring holder directly answer to royal family elders. You can say they run a parallel government and maintain law and order of the kingdom.

Leon got some basic understanding of these punishers, but what he was most interested in their strengths.

"So," Leon asked seriously, he was hoping for good news. "How many of those six rings are there? And what about their strengths?"