Year 1956 of the Elazio Empire calendar.
In a huge estate surrounded by three layers of walls made of the eternal White Dragon's stones, a ruckus could be heard up to 5 thousands meters outside.
In a large two-story room of the "Golden Sun Mansion", cries of pain and suffering echoed and reflected in every corner of the house. It was the delivery of the fourteenth child of House Callendor and the second child of the first wife of Archduke Cazan Callendor. At the door, 20 ladies and young ladies were waiting impatiently for their first encounter with the new member of the family.
His highness Cazan Callendor was leaning on the window, his eyes looking into to sky and a sad expression was drawn on his face.
Suddenly, the loyal head buttler Betty hurried to the main study were the melancholic middle-aged Archduke was leaning and opened the door in a harsh manner inadequate to the Nobility etiquette.
"What's the matter?" sighed the duke in exasperation.
4 words that came off Betty's mouth turned the Archduke's sad face into an expression of elation and joy : 'It is a boy!'
While you may think this matter is a trivial one, in the Magic World, a principal plane of a new-born Universe that was in his one thousandth millennial, giving birth to a boy was pretty difficult and almost impossible if it happens to be born with a nobility bloodline. While there was a ratio of one male to 7 females if you were a commoner, if you were from nobility you have one in 12 chance of being born as a boy.
Despite the fact that women outnumber males, these last ones were the inheritors of
nobility titles and heirlooms ; that was mainly due to the constitutions of men that allow them to build mana cores that was the first steps to become an official knight. If being a knight for middle-class and low-class noblility grant them success in becoming heir apparent, for high-class nobility (marquess, dukes, archdukes...) being the first-born son of the house especially if you were born from one of the three mandatory wives, this alone will definitely grant you automatically the title of official heir of the house!
Moreover, if it happens that you are the heir of an archduchy, you are granted the title of marquess the day you are born until you become Archduke when times come.
"We greet his highness Archduke Callendor! May prospirity and blessings always accompany your highness and his excellency!" Exclaimed the women and daughters of the lord of the house while bowing in an elegant and refined manner.
You could see signs of relief on the faces of the wives and concubines. Although having three wives and five concubines, the Archduke never had a son which had the effect of putting a monumental pressure on the shoulders of his wives.
For these ladies, it doesn't matter who might bring a son to the duke, what really matters is having an heir for the archduchy and that could be explained by the fact that without an heir to inherit the presigious house, the future of these ladies were bleak. Secondly, if another son would be born afterwards, there was no shortage of titles of nobility that could be granted as the servants of house Callendor reached a tremendous amount. Under house Callendor, there were 5 dukedoms, 9 marquisates and 21 countdom that were serving them. From the 5 dukedoms, one of them was managed directly by the archduchy after the last duke, Duke Stalinstone, had failed to give birth to his successor and had passed away.
House Callendor was the most prestigious house of the Elazio Empire and their fief was more than half of the size of the Empire.
The Empire's size is almost 10 times the size of the Earth wich half of it belongs to House Callendor, a Noble house that is even richer and wealthier than the imperial family, and even the other 12 empires of the "South Archipel of the Magical World" all of them combined! The empire was divided by a large see in two parts : the east part belongs to House Callendro, while the west part belongs to the imperial family and the other noble houses.
The actual emperor Robert Callendor Elazio was the younger brother of Cazan. When the previous emperor passed away without bearing an heir to the throne a huge contest to determine the next monarch started. Contrary to what logic would dictate, the position of monarch didn't pick the interest of the Nobles. Because of the lack of men in this world, the work of Nobility is overwhelming and outweigh what a normal person can bear. Additionally, noblemen has many obligations ranging from giving birth to an heir, to finding time to practice their knighthood's special technique till managing territories and the people living there. How could the Emperor remains sane if even the Nobles complain all the time ! Moreover, because of the shortage of males, the noblemen would largely prefer to meet at leat once a month with their fellows especially when it's getting to talk about thing that you can't share with your wives and women in general.
Cazan entered the room and saw a cute little child with golden curly hair and blue eyes like saphirs lying next to his mother, Princess Eleya the younger sister of the previous emperor and the Archduchess of House Callendor. The Archduke leaned next to his wife and kissed her forehead. He wiped the tears of his wife that was genuinely smiling while looking at her new-born. If you desire to describe the boy in one world, handsome would obviously be an understatement : his pearly white skin and the harmony that emanates from his features and his well-proportioned body made him look like an angel fallen from heaven.
Cazan took his son in his arms and patted his head. Then he ordered everyone to gather in the courtyard of the main mansion the core of House Callendor's estate : 'The Golden Sun Mansion'.
"I shall present to you my son, his excellency Marquess Kallanz Cazan Callendor, the official heir of this house. He is my pride and my beloved son, every misbehaviour even the smallest misconduct done to him is the same disregard made to me and is punishable by imprisonment! He is granted access to all the estate except when it comes to my personal appartement where it requires my personal approval beforehand. He will reside in the East annex of the 'Golden Sun Mansion' and will be served by 300 four-stars maids and 15 five-stars personal maids and 10 buttlers, one of them will be Viscountess Rachelle, the second in chief of the buttlers. The Head Chef Baron Gustav alongside the preparations of my meals, you will be responsible of his meals. I am not waiting less than excellency from you! When he is sufficiently grown-up, he will eat his meals with me at the thousand stars dinner room and will be seated at my right and will be the only one besides me who will have the freedom of speaking whatever crosses his mind without even consulting me. He has full authority over every member of the Callendor family members, thus that means if my son wants you to leave the House or punishes you he has full right to do it! You might behave well when you get to meet with his excellency! Finally as for his personal expenditures I will give him an allowance of 20 thousands of large gold coins ever month until he reaches his coming-of-age ceremony when he will have every month an allowance of 200 thousands of large gold coins negotiable if Kallanz sees that it is unfit of him! As for the matter that concerns his personal knights, the vowing ceremony will occur in an hour. Make the Bells ring all over the fief and invite our loyal retainers as well as his majesty and the other noble families for the Grand Banquet that will be held in a year from now on!"stated solemnly Kazan Callendor.
You may think that this statement shocked everyone and made them fear the little blond boy that was leaning on the shoulders of the Archduke especially when it comes to the authority he was helding, but the reality was that you could see gazes of apprehension and admiration from everyone in the estate. This ceremony was the traditional one made when a heir is appointed as the next in line to inherit a fief.
The 20 thousands large gold coins is a huge sum : a large gold coin that is equivalent to 10 gold coins is the salary of a well-off family of commoners for an entire year. 20 thousands large coins is the allowance for all the other members of the family for every semester!
Cazan took his son to the training ground where 60 thousands knights was kneeling! Even the imperial family has only 10 thousands knights while House Callendor has over 60 thousands Knights, the biggest and most feared army in all the 'South Archipel of the magical world'!
"The proud Sun Knights of House Callendor greets his highness Archduke Cazan Callendor and his excellency Marquess Kallanz Cazan Callendor! May the blessings of the All-mighty Sun bring prosperity to Callendor's archduchy" shouted in unity the loyal Knights of the fief.
"You may stand up my loyal Knights. Today is the most special day of my life as for the fief as well! This is the future of Callendor, you new master! I am sure all of you will display the utmost courtesy when it comes to my son! Now let's start the vow ceremony!"
Two thousands knighs vowed under the watch the world's consciousness allegiance and loyality to their new master Kallanz Callendor, among them were 50 elites and even one Swordmaster, Count Joseph Ballinger, the second in command of the Sun Knights! In all the Empire there is only 3 swordmasters! Alongside the Emperor who is guarded by Count Lyn Chelan, Archduke Cazan Callendor is tightly protected by Marquess Yves Crillard. A sacred vow of a knight is a magical phenomenon that takes soul strands from the knight and places them in the soul core of the person to who we vowed protection and eternal loyality : the knight who made the sacred vow can't even think of betraying his master unless he was seeking his own demise. Moreover, if the knight acted cowardly while he could display more power when he had to protect his master he would be severly injured and hurt and even die from the backlash proportionally to the might the knight displayed while protecting his master.
A beautiful women with blue hair wearing a sophisticated dress arrived on time after the ceremony was over. It was Marchioness Ilen Crillard, the first wife of Marquess Yves.
"I greet his highness Cazan Callendor and his excellency Kallanz Cazan Callendor. May the future of the Archduchy be blessed with prosperity. I am the nanny that has been dispatched to take the utmost care of his excellency. I... Wow!" The Marchioness couldn't help but sigh at the beatiful child that ressembles an angel. "Oh I apologize for this discourtesy! I never saw such a beautiful child. Your highness, he ressembles you with his golden hair. You have been definitely blessed by the Sun your highnes!"
"Hahahaha Lady Crillard! It is my first time seeing you display such expressions on your face. As I trusts your husband, I am putting my treasure in your care, my trustworthy friend" smiled the Archduke while patting the shoulders of the beatiful women and passing the heir into her arms. "Ah, Marchioness! Could you inform the princess that I will gift her the privilege to rest in the 'Golden Sun Mansion' for a year from now on in the five-story pavillon next to the annex where his excellency resides and she could pay visits once every two days in this upcoming year without a formal invitation!"
Ilen nodded. It was an amazing gift alongside the allowance and jewels she will get from the birth of a son! Normally, other than money, women would get nothing more. It was indeed, a sign showing the respect of the Archduke towards his first wife.
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"Congratulations Princess Eleya for giving birth of his excellency Kallanz! You can't know how much we are all relieved now! The Archduke was so desperate that he even killed a maid two months ago because she spilled some tea over his desk" sighed Azaleas, the second wife of the Archduke and the first Princess of Lumina Empire, the neighboring country.
"Congratulations Princess Elea. It is really a blessing that you was able to deliver a baby boy to his Highness! As you know, the stronger the man is, the harder is to give birth to a boy! shouted Princess Ezelyn, third wife and second princess of the Romanos Empire.
"Oh my! Ezelyn have you heard about the daughter of Marchioness Lazelle from Romanos. She was faking her identity in order to inherit the fief from her father. What was they thinking back then? Were they courting death so desperately?" said the second comcubine Lady Leilena, daughter of Duke Germanoff, one of the two dukes of Elazio that are not servants of the Archduchy.
All the people were shocking their heads disdainfully after hearing something considered taboo and nonsense in 'the South Archipel'.
" May I enter? It is Tyfanny My Lady!" asked the faithful Lady-in-waiting daugher of Count Lyn Chelan, Swordmaster of the Emperor, while knocking the door. " Marchioness Crillard has just informed me that his Highness has gifted you a temporary stay of 1 year in the 'Golden Rose pavillon next to the residency of his excellency alongside with an authorization for a year of paying visits to his excellency once every two days without asking beforehand!"
"How lucky!"shouted all the girls in unity. You could even see some tears that the princess was trying to hide. For noblewomen to be able to live near their son inside the main mansion of the estate even for a temporary period is literally a miracle in itself especially when it comes to the Callendor estate. As you may know 'the Calendor Estate' is divided into three parts surrounded by three layers of wall made from Drangons' white stones known for it steadiness majesty, and long lasting feature.
The outer wall surrounds the part where you can found the retainers' residencies and the Ladies-in-waiting and buttlers' recidency. The middle part of the estate is the place where you can find the mansions of the wives and concubines as well as the mansions of the children of the Lord exception made for the heir where he should reside in the innermost part of the estate. In every estate of higher-nobility in Elazio Empire, five mansions will stand higher than the others; and no exception was made when it comes to Callendor's estate : the three first mansions were where the mandatory wives and one of their daughters would stay. That daughter would be chosen by the Lady herself in order to help her learn proper etiquette before sending her definitely at the age of seven to her groom-to-be's estate. Before that, the young lady would be making countless trips from and to the estate of her fiancé from the moment she was born. It was the privilege of the official wives of the higher-class nobility : being able to mandate that one of her daughters will become an official wife of a nobleman. The fourth mansion is the residence of important guests that might come from time to time : Normally it is where a royal family might stay. As for the fifth mansion it is the residence of three mandatory fiancée (wives-to-be) of the official heir of the house. The other mansions are occupied by concubines (each one of them gets her own mansion) and the young ladies that reside in a single huge mansion divided in two annexes : the more luxurious annex was designed for the daughters of the official wives while the second part is the residence that definitely not lack of luxurious ornements for the concubines' daughters. There is also a huge mansion for boys but it is practically empty all the time.
The whole estate was in turmoil in preparation for the Grand Banquet which will be held in a year and where all the Royals of the Archipelago will be gathered to celebrate the birth of the official heir of the richest family in the Archipelago.
Everyone was so busy than none of them seemed to notice the peculiar light inside Kallanz' pupils. Who would suspect a new-born child to be carrying all the malice and hatred of the Universe?
'My time has yet to come. Be patient boy! One step after the other. I won't be rushing this time! I swear on my Universal Name that 'Nothingness' will suffer hundreds times for the countless humiliation that occurred from his bloodthirsty experiments!'
It was not a simple reincarnation of a rank 10 life-form but a transcendental one that defies all logic! It was the reincarnation of a soul from a previous Era!