After a little over an hour, the carriage carrying the Alliance Emperor's coffin arrived before a small hill outside the city.
Calling it a small hill was not quite accurate. Its interior had been completely hollowed out and turned into an enormous Imperial Mausoleum.
There were four such mausoleums in total. Aside from Reef Rock Fortress, each of the Soma Alliance's other four capitals—North Capital, Central Capital, East Capital, and South Capital—had one nearby. The original plan had been to bury the Alliance Emperor in the nearest one should he pass away.
However, because almost everyone believed the Alliance Emperor would not die suddenly in his prime, aside from the Xia Ya Imperial Mausoleum, which had been started earliest, the other three were still under construction.
For that reason, quite a few people in the funeral procession were discussing how the Alliance Emperor must have foreseen his impending death. Knowing he would not live much longer, he had remained in Xia Ya for more than half a year without leaving, sparing himself the trouble of traveling even after death.
The royal family members remained as solemn as before. They stood at the very front of the funeral procession in silence, their faces filled with incomparable grief, watching the coffin enter the Imperial Mausoleum until the Wizards used magic to seal it shut.
The First Prince, who was around thirty, watched it all, then reached up and wiped at the corners of his eyes, brushing away tears that did not exist. He turned around and swept his many brothers standing beside him with a scrutinizing gaze. Once he was done, he walked toward the court ministers standing slightly farther back.
Stopping before one of the ministers, the First Prince called out his name and asked in a low voice, "Your Excellency