The royal treasury.

The most cherished location in the entire royal palace and the royal family’s most prized inheritance.

Generations of accumulated wealth, knowledge, and powerful treasures and artifacts are kept secure there and put to use only when necessary.

It is said that two crimes are punished with immediate execution in the kingdom of Ursula....

One being, when a person is caught aligning oneself with demons or demonic humans...

And two.... When a person attempts to steal from the royal treasury.

Through the generations, there have been several attempts from ambitious individuals or factions to steal from the royal treasury of the kingdom of Ursula...

But all had ended in failure and consequent immediate execution.

Looking around the treasury and what was seen outside, Zorat could understand perfectly well why these attempts ended in failures.

Say one manages to infiltrate the royal palace.... Which would be a herculean task on its own since the entire palace is constantly being monitored by the ’enforcers’.

And they even manage to make it all the way to the hallway leading to the royal treasury...

They would instantly lose complete access to all their mana pool. Making it impossible to use any of their awakened skills. They would have to depend on their physical strength alone.

Let’s say they do have immense physical strength, maybe the strength of a paragon realm being....

They would still have to deal several physical blows to the vault door to break through.

This might take forever, and since Zorat also noted the presence of an alert function accompanying the mana-cancelling function of whatever artifact is at work here... enforcers would be upon the intruder as soon as they set foot in the hallway.

Still, let’s assume they manage through it all and somehow make it inside the vault...

There are also several alerting formation circuits running through the walls and floors of the entire space.

The good news is, because of these formation circuits in the sealed vault, which require mana, a minute amount of mana is allowed in rotation.... So, the intruder can use their skills to some extent inside.

So, they can at least defend themselves when their presence instantly alerts the palace. Assuming they are strong enough to battle whoever shows up with such limited rotations of mana.

Still, the possibility of making away with even a single imperial coin in such a situation becomes very unlikely.

Though Zorat had thought of several ways to get himself inside when he conceptualized the idea of screwing a particular someone over.

His Void Domain spell was just a more convenient option, which was totally unexpected because he had not planned to fulfill Ava’s desires just yet. It just sort of happened.

Now, the kingdom couldn’t have imagined someone like Zorat, who doesn’t even require mana so long as his mental strength held, which was their very first mistake.

They also couldn’t have imagined the existence of a skill with such a concealing ability at such a level.

The interesting part is that it was only currently functioning at a level which Zorat’s current body could bear.

Now Zorat was standing leisurely amidst the kingdom’s most prized treasures. A location he had arrived at with just some mental strain.

*****

While Zorat had successfully infiltrated the royal treasury...

somewhere else outside the palace, all the way over in the grand vizier’s mansion, right in the heart of the capital....

Victor Malverin was putting in the final touches on his plans to destroy Caleb.

Victor was aware that in the palace or its environs, he could not freely make a move on Caleb. There are monsters in the palace that he still fears.

Therefore, the only way forward was to get Caleb removed from the palace so he could go after him himself and see to his end.

To that effect, he had just concluded a ’meeting’ with the royal court secretary, where substantial amounts had exchanged hands in bribery.

Usually, the heroes are to be situated inside the palace until the end of the hero’s summit, with only the king having the authority to twist that mandate.

However, the court secretary holds the king’s stamp, and a forgery of a mandate instructing the hero of item box to be situated outside the palace would soon be delivered to Victor.

Using this. He would be able to force Caleb’s relocation out of the palace long enough for him to have his revenge.

Victor knows this farce would not be buried long, in which case the sourt secretary would give the innocent excuse of a clerical error. But by that time, he would have gotten rid of the torn in his side.

When he recalls seeing the infuriating smirk on Caleb’s face when they were at the king’s summons, Victor’s blood continues to boil hotter with rage.

"You evil, vile creature... for what you did to my daughter...."

"You will pay with your life," he muttered in a chilling, murderous tone and expression, looking out his mansion window at the towering palace in the far distance.

*****

Meanwhile.

Back at the royal treasury, someone else was in quite the pleasant mood.

"Well then.... "

"Let’s get to harvesting." Saying these words...

Zorat began a process that would light the embers that would eventually engulf the kingdom of Ursula in flames, leading to its eventual ruin.

For every royal family in the world of Arleria, their ancestral and generational heritage is usually held inside their secure royal treasuries.

And just like Ursula, other kingdoms, too, have individuals similar to the elusive enforcers, who make sure these treasures are secure inside their vaults.

These treasures can be used for war, to maintain the kingdom’s wealth, status, and feed its people through trade with other kingdoms.

The kingdom of Ursula is in a special situation at the moment, where they are heavily dependent on their wealth to trade for goods with other kingdoms because they’ve been experiencing a drought, and have to dip into the royal coffers.

And at this very moment.... A grinning Zorat was opening up his spatial repertoire channel underneath every single treasure, artifact, weapon, armament, and mountains of imperial coins.....

All the accumulated generational wealth set in place to ensure the kingdom’s continued survival....

All were currently being swallowed up by purple portals corresponding to their respective sizes.

In only a couple of seconds, the entire treasury had been cleared out.

The white space now contained only several empty wooden shelves...

Hmm...thats some nice looking shelves..

Zorat took a closer look at these shelves, and they appeared to be made of quite rare, special wood....

So he opened portals beneath them all, as they all disappeared into his spatial repertoire.

Now, it was just a large white open space, with the invisible Zorat at its center, a satisfied grin on his face.

"All done.... "

"Now for the most delicious part...." Saying this, a familiar necklace with an emerald pendant materialized in Zorat’s right hand.

Hehehe.