Now, this led to the next question... What was going on?
The matter was simple, this was all a plan of the royal family in order to solve a few problems affecting the kingdom, one of the most important being, the nobles who were against the current royal family, as well as the spies who were selling the information about their military movements.
Enroy was a wise king, even though on the battlefield he was known as the [Barbarian] for his savage way of fighting. That is why when he discovered that his youngest son, Ren, had a blessing as dangerous as the [Tower of Babel], he devised a plan to keep his son safe, after all, he knew that knowledge was dangerous in the wrong hands, that is why he decided that on the outside, he would treat his youngest son like shit, while when they were alone, he would explain his actions, so he could protect him and still keep a family together. His two older sons also became part of this, although they were a little sadder because they didn't like to treat their beloved younger brother badly.
Thanks to these moves, Ren grew up being regarded as the black sheep of the family, as the disgrace, and so people slowly began to ignore him while his brothers were treated as the best the kingdom had ever gotten. Because of these dealings, Ren grew up knowing who were the people he could trust, as well as the danger of his ability.
In other words, the king had managed to make the most important person in the royal family, be seen as the worst stain in history, in order for him to be safe within the castle walls, and this led to the current situation.
Thanks to the knowledge Ren had acquired over the years thanks to the [Tower of Babel], he had managed to deduce that the kingdom was about to fall, which is why he decided to tell his father, who quickly began to create countermeasures, although the more they talked, the worse the situation became for them. The conclusion that the king and his son reached was that the kingdom was in the deepest shit, and there was nothing they could do because the current system prevented it, not to mention that the inhabitants were considered the worst scum of the continent, which had caused many small kingdoms to ally with each other in order to resist the friction with the kingdom of Bahamut.
According to the calculations Ren had managed to come up with after years of analysis, he concluded that the kingdom would have between two and three years left before the war would destroy it, and because of the system of nobles that was corrupt to the core, there was nothing the army could do, because they too were corrupt.
Enroy could only sigh in despair during that discussion, after all, he trusted his son, he had never failed him as an advisor during difficult times, that's why after thinking a little more about it, they decided it was time for them to start from scratch.
It was impossible for Ren to take control of the kingdom of Bahamut because no one would listen to him, even with the support of his brothers, and even if he managed to do so, the future could not be changed, which meant that the kingdom would still fall before their opponents.
It was there that Ren proposed something to his father, he would exile himself to the most inhospitable area of the continent, Surt, and create the foundations of a new kingdom, one where the most talented people of the old kingdom could build without fear of the corruption of the past.
Enroy was a bit skeptical when he heard this, not because he didn't trust his son, but because that place was dangerous, and he didn't want his youngest son to suffer, however, as monarch he knew this was possibly the best option, mostly because being such an inhospitable place, Surt was an area with hundreds, or even thousands of natural sources that Ren could use to create a new society, one that he could use to be able to defend the still worthwhile people of the kingdom, that was the level of trust that the king had in his son, he was confident that Ren could fulfill this vision.
After making this clear, the two decided to devise the exile ceremony, so they could identify some traitors, with that they would gain a little more time, after all, the two were sure that they would let their guard down in this situation, a moment they would take advantage of to remove them.
* * * * *
"Did I wake you up?" - Eric asked with a huge grin as he entered the carriage.
"No, I was just thinking about the past" - answered Ren while shaking his head.
"And I thought I could use this time to play a joke on you, Ren" - said a young lady with long curly brown hair, she was wearing a yellow one-piece dress and was smiling at the exiled prince - "Maybe some markers to draw some circles around your eyes, or some crosses on your cheeks..."
"Markers?" - Ren repeated as he raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, right, in this place they don't exist... yet..." - Elisabeth gave him a mysterious smile that left her fiancé confused.
Ren shook his head, after all, he had gotten used to the strange words and sentences this girl gave him from time to time, like for example, that time she said she was craving for pizza, which made Eric to be searching for a week without results for this oddly named food, surprisingly, after that week, he got the knowledge of what a pizza was, so he told one of the royal cooks to prepare it, which he reluctantly did.
"So how are you feeling, Ren?" - Elisabeth asked with a huge smile - "From outside the capital I heard how those idiots were insulting you, it must have been quite exciting."
"Too bad it gets boring after the hundredth time" - replied Ren with sarcasm - "Leaving that aside, I'm glad to see you, Elisabeth, it's a relief that you managed to come with us, even though we couldn't brief you on the plan."
"Oh, I understand that you couldn't do it, after all, the information could have been leaked, and for you to come directly to me, it would have caused a few inconveniences" - Elisabeth said with a frown, after all, she knew about the horrendous rumors surrounding the youngest of the princes, especially the ones with women as protagonists, in other words, Ren showing up at her home, with her being his best friend's fiancée, was something best prevented - "Anyway, how's your mana training and swordplay going? "
"¿?" - Ren gave a surprised look to the woman, who kept smiling.
"Surprised?" - Elisabeth asked with an even bigger grin - "Why should you be? I mean, you have the skill of a generic Anime protagonist, you can get the knowledge of the best mages in the world and thus train your mana, the lost ancient magics are also under your possession, not to mention that your training method is so good and practical, it leaves behind the huge swollen muscles for firmer, compact and more flexible ones!"
Ren gave a glance at Eric, who at least had the decency to blush, so he quickly let out a sigh - "Truth be told, I'm not surprised that Eric betrayed me."
"What can I say, I have my darling's weakness between my hands" - said Elisabeth as she gave a glance at her fiancé, who simply fell exhausted in his seat.
""Whipped" - muttered Ren as he saw how Eric gave him an annoyed look - "Did I say something wrong? Elisabeth has you where she pleases."
"Can we change the subject?" - Eric asked awkwardly.
"No" - replied Ren and Elisabeth before letting out a laugh, which Eric quickly joined them.
"Anyway, what's the plan, boss?" - Elisabeth asked as she gave him a military salute.
"The usual, first we're going to identify the area and its dangers, then we'll create a temporary camp" - answered Ren as he pondered - "Finally, we'll look for an area to create our first settlement, and thanks to our combined knowledge, we can create a solid construction for the first few days"
Ren wouldn't deny it, he was still impressed of the knowledge that Elisabeth had in her head, mostly because in her " library" there was nothing about it, which led him to another question... How was it possible that someone like Elisabeth existed?
Eric was ignorant about this, but Elisabeth was a much more dangerous and intelligent woman than other people thought, though this was not a problem because she was not hostile against the kingdom, nor did she seem like a bad person, not to mention that she quickly became one of his best friends after all the time they spent together, though there was something that was confusing him, and that was all those extravagant ideas that were going through her head.