Giliath demands your power stones let's try to get over 500!
*****
One hour later. 9:30AM.
Breakfast had gone smoothly since that awkward atmosphere spread throughout the dining hall. Prince Olivert's condition soon returned to normal once his hangover medicine kicked in. It hadn't been long since he became an adult himself.
One often forgets how old Prince Olivert truly is while playing the games. He was already twenty-five by the time the first of the sky games started. Right now, it was three years until then, so that meant Prince Olivert was twenty-two right now. He was more Sara's age than anyone else present in this room, but still slightly older than her. Of those present in this room, only Mueller out-aged Prince Olivert by three years or so. Well, if there was one thing in common the two shared, they both had a very large disparity in age between them and their younger siblings.
Princess Alfin and Prince Cedric were twins who were still only ten years old this year, four year younger than me. Prince Olivert already was older by twelve years, whereas Mueller was over fifteen years of age difference to Kurt. On top of that their mothers were different. Such was a common reality of being among royalty and high ranking nobles or military officers. Many places allowed polygamy, especially if one was part of a Royal or Imperial Family.
His Majesty only has two heirs to the giant throne that governs Erebonia, which its capital alone holds over five-hundred thousand people. On one hand, having less heirs guarantees a more secure spot to sit on the high seat, but it also gives more risk of its family ending in case a war does break out. It isn't farfetched to where imperial families would have up to five or ten children to secure their future.
Liberl works similarly, but it is a monarch state compared to an empire. One allowed smaller authorities to rule over certain lands on the Emperor's behalf, whereas in a monarchy, one was the sole ruler of the entire land. If a change were to occur in a monarchy state, it would go all the way up to the King or Queen. It is a seat that offers a larger pressure than I'd consider an Emperor would, but being an Emperor gives a much more satisfying feeling seeing so many vassals working under you.
The oddest thing I could think of regarding this way of governance is that the three countries, Erebonia, Liberl, and Calvard all differed from how one rules their country. Calvard used to have a nobility system, but it was torn down by its people and became a Republic where a President is voted on for a certain number of years to be in office. All to which the three surround a city-state owned government, one which elects a Mayor but is mostly run by its people, which is none other than Crossbell State, and also the state that sees the most turmoil, thanks to being surrounded by three behemoth cities.
Knowing this, it still makes me wonder exactly why father betrothed Princess Alfin to me, even going as far as receiving Their Majesties' blessing. It may seem favorable from the outside, but an underlying possibility father could use this for is to lay an attack on Calvard. Right now three countries exist in harmony, but if one tips the scale just ever so slightly, all hell could break loose. But on the up-side I only have an ever growing curiosity to see what would turn out from doing this.
Well, that was a bit of a heavy topic only having an hour pass during breakfast, right? Thankfully during this hour, aside from Prince Olivert, Princess Alfin and Sherryl's demeanor grew tremendously, almost returning to their usual selves. I'm sure what the two went through was embarrassing, but I was curious to see where Sherryl's thoughts lay, considering she was wanting to enter servitude in the future. Thankfully things didn't get worse. I even glanced my eyes toward the golden-haired girl who hadn't aged a day, and Master was behaving her usual self. Aloof to most things but still entering conversation here and there.
It was like this an hour passed, quite uneventfully might I had. For once, I was able to sit down and enjoy a good heartfelt breakfast with some of the people that I knew. Considering this place as one-half of my place to be, the other half being in Liberl. Both the Emperor and the Empress, as well as Princess Alfin now know my true identity of being a bastard child, but the only one who knew of my truest self was Master, for having known me as a reincarnator.
I did have suspicion of father knowing the latter too, but I dare not bring it up to him. Not yet anyways. Perhaps not until the matters of Immortals getting brought up in the later cold steel games. Along with reincarnation, becoming immortal was also a feat, but could only be acquired under certain conditions. Such as dying, then undergoing a forbidden rite to tie their soul to a Divine Knight.
I have no plans of killing myself in such a way though. That was definitely not my thing. Apparently I died once, and I don't want that to happen again, haha!
Still, this cheerful breakfast was just what I needed to help calm wandering thoughts down. My expression was much more relaxed now, which likely contributed to Princess Alfin and Sherryl returning to their usual selves. Princess Alfin even stretched her arms out a bit seeing a few empty plates in front of her. Even I was curious wondering where she put all of that food down.
"Mmm. Everything was rather delicious. I must give my compliments to the chef.", Princess Alfin said, happily clapping her hands together.
"I say those are some fair words, my dear sister. It is much more enjoyable passing the morning with you all like this. I feel like I am in tip-top shape again.", Prince Oliver responded to Princess Alfin with a grin of his own. Hearing that, Mueller blinked his eyes and looked at him with a stern look.
"Well that is all fine and dandy, Your Highness. That stack of papers won't just sit there for show now. Unlike Her Highness, you, might I remind, are not currently not on holiday leave. Just act like a grown man for once, and not indulge yourself, okay?", Mueller retorted seeing Prince Olivert behave like this, causing his body to tense up.
"You needn't remind me, Mueller my boy. Those stacks of paper that never seem to escape Aidios's grasp will see the light of day.", Prince Olivert responded, swirling his glass of water around a bit before he sipped some of it down, only to look our way, causing our attention to be drawn to him. "Which is unfortunate to say Your Highness, but as much as I would like to join you on your venture to the Vander Dojo, I fear I have some prior matters to attend to. Surely you've had some experience back at your castle, no?", Prince Olivert said, showing a hint of downcast in his eyes. Hearing that caused me to laugh.
"Haha, oh no doubt do I feel that, Your Highness. I've plenty dabbled in managing affairs back in Grancel Castle. It can be stressful at times, but I do hope it goes smoothly for you." I said, nodding my head at Prince Olivert.
"Well that's a shame. You said you were busy too, right Mother?", Princess Alfin said, looking at Empress Priscilla.
"Afraid so. Both Lord Husband and His Excellency have left for business needs, so I need to remain behind and attend to any palace duties. Thankfully it's mostly covered by the maids, but it still requires my presence here. And seeing Olivert is going to be stuck doing his work, you'll be with him, right Sir Vander?", Empress Priscilla asked Mueller.
"Yes. I am afraid I will not be able to show you to our dojo, Your Highness. A bit of bad timing.", Mueller said, shaking his head.
"That's alright, Sir Vander. I will gladly escort the prince and princess to the dojo. His Excellency left such matters in my care for the time being. Please stay by His Highness's side. I will ensure their safety. Also, Kurt, was it? You were set to go with us, unless something has changed?", Claire's voice said, who finally decided to speak up and not be a ghost any longer.
"Yes. I'll be heading to our dojo as I have business with Father. I feel a bit out of place if I were to be in the same party with Their Highnesses though...", Kurt said, scratching his cheek as he felt a bit out of place.
"Oh please. You're coming with us. You're Sir Vander's younger brother, so you're in as much of a position as he is. You may be young like me, but I'm sure we'd feel safer knowing there is still a Vander with us. Right, Big Brother?", Princess Alfin said, looking my way.
"I don't see a problem with us, so why not come with us, Kurt? I too have business with Lord Vander, but I have a promise with Sherryl here first. We'll be hosting a spar. You said you wanted to come with us to witness it right, Your Highness Prince Cedric?", I said, looking toward Prince Cedric.
"Of course. I wouldn't dare miss it, since I want to see how far you've come with that way of the sword of yours. Plus it might even give me a glimpse of how the Demon of Thors fights too.", Prince Cedric said with a nod of his head, causing Aurelia to smile.
"I don't really like being put on the spot here...", Sherryl responded, acting a bit shy, which caused a spread of laughter to echo through the dining hall.
"Well I wouldn't be too sure about that. It all depends on Master's schedule. I would love to see how far you've come though, Naoto, so I will be joining you guys. I do have expectations of you as well, miss Taito practitioner.", Aurelia said, glancing her eyes at the lilac-haired girl beside her.
"I don't really like being put on the spot here...", Sherryl responded, acting a bit shy. Compared to the past, Aurelia was in the crowd watching Sherryl fight, but now Aurelia was right beside Sherryl. She was still in her journey of becoming the strongest swordswoman, but no doubt Sherryl is definitely feeling some pressure here.
That still caused a wave of laughter to spread around the dining hall, which was a clear indicator that our breakfast was over now. Claire was kind enough to offer a path ahead. Her Majesty, Prince Olivert and Mueller stood up and excused themselves, retreating back into Valflame Palace. While me, Sherryl, Princess Alfin, Prince Cedric, Kurt, Aurelia, Roselia, who stayed quiet during this exchange, got up and proceeded to follow the icy blue-haired maiden, acting as an escort for us. Instead of going directly outside of the palace, she brought us to another area inside of it, which was a private garage, sporting several types of orbal vehicles.
It was here where Princess Alfin's exclusive orbal car was stored, along with Prince Cedric and other members of the Imperial Family. Of course, Princess Alfin dragged us inside her car she often uses to drive around Heimdallr and the surrounding cities. If I recall, it was shown once or twice when Class VII was escorted to Esmelas Garden.
Still, the inside was basically a giant limousine, spacious and luxurious to boot. We even had a dedicated driver, but Claire took up that spot, relieving the driver of his duties for the time being. Like that, We exited the garage, causing onlookers to look on with interest seeing a car belonging to the Imperial Family start driving to one of the districts where the Vander Dojo lay...