The army took it's time returning and disbanding, all rewards and contribution will be distributed out in due time by the imperial family itself, and Lucien made sure all the Blood Slaves would return to their families and act as the best possible spies, helping Elena and his business in any possible way.
Inside the throne room, Henry was in a very good mood while looking at this son of his, he just got the news that the team his son led had the most contributions in this war, and decided to give him the reward meant for his team in person, even altering it a bit.
"You did well, from your achievements I can guess you are already at the peak of Rank 1, if you can breakthrough before 20, you won't have much problems in the second elimination round."
Lucien just smiled in response.
'Problems? I already have 4 Paths at Rank 2, not to mention my Soul is already peaked, I can wipe the floor with any one of them or even with all of them at the same time.'
"I won't waste your time, tell me what do you want as your reward? Normally it would be monetary or if the contributions were high enough, maybe a noble title of the lowest levels. I want to hear your wish."
'Here it comes. Let's see if my plan can come into motion."
"I want to spread the news, tell the people that it was me who participated in the war, and my contributions, I don't want anything else."
The moment the notion was mentioned, a gleam of light shone inside the eyes of Henry.
"Tell me, son, why would you want to push yourself inside the limelight like that, didn't you want to be hidden and left alone?"
Lucien knew that what he had said all those years back so he can practice in peace would be pulled out of the bag now.
"I still don't want to be involved in any political bullshit, I want the shield that the commoner support can give me, the reputation would shield me from annoying problems as my powers grow."
Henry knew his son was pulling a wool over his eyes and had other plans, but since the reason was good enough he decided to let him be and see what he planned.
"Okay, I will bite, the information will be spread in the grandest of ways. I don't care what you plan on doing, as long as you continue getting stronger. I will also make sure the money you should get from all the contributions is given to you as fast as possible, you can take care of splitting it with your teammates."
Lucien smiled as he knew that this decision from his father would plunge his empire into chaos, and he would be the only one left unaffected.
'I might have hesitated if my reputation was low, but now I don't have anything stopping me.'
After he left the throne room, Lucien also met with Elena and after ravaging her, he told her about the families that would now provide support, and the extensive amount of families left her reeling in shock. He confidently gave her all the contacts, completely sure that no matter what they tried behind his back would reach his ears almost immediately.
Lucien didn't train or do anything for a couple of days, he was already at a level where a day or two didn't matter, so he relaxed for a bit, enjoying the soft body that was felt boneless all day, waiting for news.
It took no more than 3 days, when he heard a commotion on the streets, looking through the window, he saw 2 men arguing in loud voices.
"How dare you sully our brave prince, he spilled blood on the front while you were home screwing that hag of a wife you have."
The moment this last sentence was said out loud, many people who were walking by stopped, and turned to look at the man who had so much guts.
The other man didn't respond, he had already noticed all the cold stares from the sidelines and knew it was best if he remained silent at this point, even if it meant a beating, he would take it as escalating the situation would only make it worse.
The fervent fan Lucien had jumped and started hitting the offender ruthlessly, he would probably leave him with his life, but the beating would take a while to heal, even if he is a Practitioner, the man was not resisting any more, he knew he had made a mistake and had to take the consequences.
'It seems it has already spread among the commoners, from now on it will only spread faster, even reaching the villages on the borders.'
'The Blood Slaves will also help with spreading the news and will also add details to make it seem even more grand and heroic, soon the stories will get even more twisted and the truth will get mixed with those details and it will become a legend of sorts.'
Lucien was completely correct, over the next couple of days, the news that the prince had fought at the front spread like a wildfire, and the more the stories were told the wilder they grew, in some of them Lucien saved a really beautiful maiden from the hands of the nasty Beasts, in others he used his spear to pierce hundreds of Beasts, and many more.
'That last one is the most amusing, I did pierce a hundred, but not Beasts, heheh. But now my goal is achieved, I have a really good shield, it would be next to impossible to blame me for certain things, as long as I'm not caught red handed, I'm safe.'
'I will now go into seclusion for a while, I have to pick a Middle Path before executing my plan and make clones for as many Lower Paths as possible.'