OH DEAR LORD...
If that is what Royal Court of Vallace truly is...
Empire and it's backwardness are now not looking as bad. Especially as something tells me that peasantry in Vallace may have it just as Mediaval as peasants of Mage Barony, if not worse.
I thought Empira was meant to be one of worse countries, not one of better ones for living!

This was the most horrifying, beautiful, fascinating thing I've seen in a while, not just in this comic but other comics.

Well done, Neorice.

Any chance you got inspiration from Monster, the manga?

well that vampire king is worrysome

"peace and stability"

The person with the sun tat above their eye is at least from the same culture as Giovanni Sunshine.

Wait a second... Nail?

Definitely a happy ending, definitely nothing else will go wrong...

So, King Vallan protected the nobility from magic users... and his son reverses it completely.

I wonder how much time passed between this tale and the stories of our protagonists

That's was really fucking cool. Good story, I'm excited to see some of its influence

Interesting...definitely see some parallels here, too.

http://www.neorice.com/hoh_448

Calling right now; the King of Vallance is the comics final enemy, and it's probably where all three protagonists finally meet up. @ Me in 10 years if I'm wrong but I think I may have it right.

Anyone notice projectile defense specialist has the same tattoo as Sunny?

Well, that was a fun little horror story!

The guy on the far right, the one that can detect hostility. Am I tripping or we've seen someone like him already?

One loose thread- what happened to the eldest untalented son?

This will get buried because everyone commented already

The stone man is a living statue (Titan?), with the same kind of powers as Persephone. However, his skillset (and wild lion mane) sounds extremely similar to another "Stone" Man that can crush entire armies...Giovanni Sunshine. However, one of the tribe members of the Sunshines is already shown here, and most of the world powers agree that having a contract with Giovanni would be a declaration of war on the rest

One of the figures at the beginning looked like one of the top 10 most wanted figures, Dark Skull who rules the criminal underworld. Probably just a coincidence
https://www.neorice.com/hoh_tobi_2144

Ghouls are willing to stop (or continue perhaps?) their quest long enough to supply the younger son with blackwater.

The eldest son promptly disappeared from the story for no reason whatsoever. Now thats a Chekhov's Gun if I've ever seen one. This is not the last we've seen of him.

Personal Speculation: One of the court members, the one that can read the mind of all that wishes the king ill, is Balthazar Beauregard. His presence at the meeting of all world leaders in one place got him the #2 most wanted man in the world because of this power. He had come into contact with minds that would rule the world for generations, like the Emperor, and now had access to insider information about all of them, thereby proving the necessity of stopping him at all costs, and making his capture an urgent need for all world powers, thus putting him at #2 of the most wanted list.

@Stinger Are ghouls really the source of black water? I don't recall that being the case.

Ghouls and black water are both omens, yeah, but that doesn't mean one caused the other.

I personally think this alchemist is part of an entirely different group. Page 2144 mentions "The Blue Bird," a top 10 criminal who dresses like the alchemist, and in APTGG we saw "The Sparrow" who also has that aesthetic: https://www.neorice.com/aptgg_167

Just based on how they dress, I assume this alchemist is from the same group or culture as The Sparrow and The Blue Bird, rather than being a ghoul.

@Stinger In 2144, the descriptions of each criminal were color-coded to match the portrait. Therefore, the underworld leader is the one with the red striped shirt and literal skull head.

But I do agree that this guy resembles "The Scourge of the Ocean," the pirate. The only obvious difference is the glasses. Is he Clark Kenting?

Houston states that he serves “the queen” of Vallance rather than a king, suggesting that the Blackwater Prince does not currently rule Vallance at the present time.

Burke mentions a sister when Pablo asked him how he removed the judge’s shackles in the fight against the pirate of the storm. And he also mentions a brother when asked for the reason for his fighting prowess early on. And here in this story there is a mention of a prince who is completely unremarkable and whose sprite bears some resemblance to Burke.

I suspect Burke’s brother is the one who lost his strength to the Blackwater Prince. And his sister is the current queen of Vallance who somehow overthrew the Prince.

I notice that the King's wound never stopped bleeding... In fact, the last panel has even more blood than the one above it...