Ray was sitting at his desk, reading from various pieces of paper that lay scattered around.
He was pretty sure he knew who this Number 1 was.
From Nadya's memories she could determine that Number 1 was a man, and she called him 'old man'.
His initial suspects were Draya from the recruitment department, Kingsley, the head of the army and Lothain, the crown's instructor.
He could immediately rule out Draya, because she was a woman.
That left Kingsley and Lothain.
And if he guessed correctly, Number 1 was none other than the crown's instructor Lothain.
He ruled out Kingsley simply because from what he knew of him, he was ambitious but a straightforward man. He loved leading the army and taking part in wars.
Lothain on the other hand was quite a mystery.
He had been the instructor of his father, and a long term respected elder in the palace.
Even the previous king showed him respect.
Ray could not just go and take action against him unless he had evidence… if he was normal.
As he read the files about this crown's instructor from his desk, he thought how he should handle him.
'I could honestly go and kill him right now for all I care…'
However, doing so would fail his Sloth quest… and even more so taking such a drastic step right before the main event would completely foil his plans.
Lothain Reeves.
No one knew about his past, but apparently he was once the best strategist and teacher in the empire. He had first entered the palace after he was selected to be an official instructor of his father.
After Ray's father became king, he somehow found this man's advice so useful that he appointed him as the crown's instructor.
Apparently he had guided Ray's father's success as a king and instructed him on many ways of handling the other empires.
However, in one particular event, Ray's father refused to listen to his instructor and did something that he shouldn't have. Well, that's when he died.
After that he left the palace stating that he would only return after a new king was crowned. In this case Ray.
The palace that was in chaos that time did not really care for the royal instructor and where he left for no one knew.
But if he really was Number 1, then he was still somehow connected to the palace, and had a hold over it.
'I'll clean this whole place tomorrow…'
Ray had read all of Number 3's memories and listened to mist of Number 1's plans from what he said to Claire.
'Tomorrow there will be a complete bloodbath…'
Ray imagined how the next day would go.
He had to pull just a few strings here and there and everyone else would do the work for him.
First, he knew the five noble kids related to the finance minister who got an extra invitation were distractions.
While those five threw themselves upon Ray to kill him, commotion would ensue.
The royal guards and the court mages would immediately start attacking.
Without any context, most nobles fearing their lives would activate their skills to defend themselves.
The guards who would not understand which noble stood on which side would start getting wild and the nobles in self defense would start fighting back.
In this commotion, Number 1 who already had the magic circle's coordinates would send in Claire in disguise, ask her to kill someone and use 'Existence Devour' to take her place.
Right then, the northern Duke would join in the fray and attempt to kill Ray.
If Lothain was indeed Number 1, then taking as the crowning ceremony as an excuse he would make his entrance as the crown's instructor.
If the Duke managed to kill him, Lothain would calm down the situation and after that the palace was essentially in his hands.
If the Duke failed, then Claire would slowly change people within the palace for their own and their plan would be delayed.
At least, this was the plan that the association had made.
'I can't be too sure because my memories are just gone... but that won't stop me...'
Ray didn't have to do a whole lot. He wouldn't do anything to the five people who acted as distractions, he wouldn't catch Number 1 and he wouldn't even change the magic circle coordinates to prevent the infiltration.
He would just ask Nadya to tell the Duke that those five people were related to the man who threatened Yei.
And the rest of their plan was bound to fail anyway.
First, the five people… the moment they tried to attack him, the Duke would kill them.
In that moment, the association would probably panic and try to ask the spies they had in the palace to distract him instead.
That's where the archduchess, his aunt, Ambrosia came in.
'I'll visit her today and ask her to stay on alert…'
He would not ask Ambrosia to kill the people who tried to attack him, but to protect the nobles instead.
He would ask her to carve some additional magic circles for a barrier that protected the nobles.
And the people who attacked him? He would kill them himself.
With this one event he could show the masses that would be watching that he was a worthy leader.
The Duke would defend him within a moment, making others believe that he was extremely loyal and protective of the young king.
The king would then instruct the archduchess to protect others instead of him which made others believe that he loved the people of the empire and cared for them more than his own safety.
And finally, he would kill all the infiltrators with ease, making them slightly glimpse at his power and what would happen if they betrayed him.
Within all this, he was sure that the association would find an opportunity to somehow make Claire infiltrate the palace and be content that at least the backup plan had worked.
But this was even better for Ray.
What the association didn't know was the Claire was on his side.
He would use their own plan against them. Slowly using Claire he would replace people of the association with people he knew, trusted or enslaved.
And after this event had transpired, it would give him a free pass to launch an investigation into every noble and almost everyone he could.
Taking this opportunity he would kill anyone he wanted revenge on or would somehow hinder his plans under the guise of 'cleansing the empire'.
'And bang, that's every bird with one stone…'
With this event and the 'purge' that would follow, he would make fame and clear out all spies from his empire.
With Claire he would get complete control over the association.
With Nadya and the favor that Kazuo would soon ask him, he would have the Northern Duke under his control.
Thinking all this over, he got up and made his way outside… more specifically to Ambrosia.
As he walked out of his room, across the long hallway, down the stairs and to a magic circle which teleported to the mage guild, he met a lot of people working intensely.
Anyone who saw him bowed and Ray waved his hand to let them carry on.
It was common rule to kneel, however Ray changed this to a bow unless it was an official meeting just because it was very annoying.
He couldn't find Adrianna or Rachel on his way, nor could he see Isis.
'Everyone is working hard…'
He really did feel happy to have so many people genuinely working hard for the ceremony.
'Don't worry, this event will never be forgotten…'
And just like that, greeting everyone, he arrived at the mage court from where he headed straight up through the stairs to where Ambrosia worked.
There were various mages staying there because Ambrosia had asked them not to let anyone enter and they were about to block this person, but when they saw who it was, they didn't even bother and let him do as he pleased.
They knew how much their archduchess loved her family and she was in a really bad mood for the past few days because she couldn't meet them.
Instead they bowed as the prince passed them, to which he returned a smile and a nod as he reached a huge door and knocked on it.
"I think I told everyone I didn't want to be disturbed…"
An annoyed voice came from inside, but to Ray who knew her well, this didn't feel annoying at all, but he could feel the tiredness in her voice.
"Well, I'll leave then…"
Ray said as he knew how she would react.
The door clicked open and a beautiful sight greeted him.
Ambrosia who recognized the voice, was standing in the room with loads of magic circles crafted in every corner. A few of them glowed with colorful lights in small intervals showing that they were used recently.
However this was not the 'beautiful sight' that he was talking about.
It was Ray's aunt herself.
She wore a red dress that was quite tight fitting and highlighted her curves at the right places.
Even though her assets were slightly smaller than Isis, they had their own uniqueness and charm.
Her dress was slightly cut out at the top showing just a glimpse of her cleavage and as she walked towards him, her breasts bounced slightly with every step, as her hips swayed gently, making it an unintended but highly erotic sight for any man.
"You want to leave? And here I thought you came to meet your poor aunt…"
Ambrosia pretended to make a sad expression as she shook her head.
Ray who was appreciating the sight was in no hurry and decided to play along.
"How could I! I just thought you were too busy to meet your poor nephew…"
"So the prince is getting sad because he couldn't meet his aunt…"
"Says the archduchess who is getting annoyed because she can't meet her family."
Ambrosia sighed as her lips curved up in a smile.
"You always have a reply ready, don't you?"
In response Ray chuckled slightly.
"Learned from the best."
"Maybe teasing Isis in front of you was a mistake."
"What's been done can never be taken back."
Ambrosia laughed slightly as she looked at him once again.
"So what happened? The Ray I know wouldn't just visit me if he didn't have something important to do?"
Ray smiled as he replied.
"You got me."
Ambrosia shook her head.
For the longest time she knew her nephew, he was always coming up to her asking her to do weird things.
Ray however was not looking at her at this moment but the screen that had appeared in front of him after he used appraisal.
[System: Knowledge Gathering System (Unique)
Name: Ambrosia Raia
Age: 35
Species: Human
Bloodline: High Blood-cells Regeneration (A)
Physique: Child of Mana (S)
Mind: Focused (A+)
Disposition: Neutral, Good
Titles: Seven Elemental Mage, Researcher of Mana, Celestial Archduchess
Strength: (C)
Agility: (D+)
Intelligence: (S+)
Charm: (S)
Dexterity: (D)
Stamina: (C+)
Mana Quantity: (SS+)
Mana Output: (SSS)
Mana Control: (SS+)
Mana Purity: (S+)
Passive Skills: Advanced Mana Affinity (SS), Mana Regeneration (SS), Zone (S),…
Active Skills: Truth Spell (SS), Appraisal (SS), Mana Circle Understanding (S),…]
Ray was thinking which skill he could copy and how he should ask Ambrosia to stay calm when he was attacked, his Lust system was ranting incessantly.
[Lust System: Ambrosia Raia? What the fuck is that weird name? You should change it to Celestia as soon as you can!]
Ray tried to ignore it but messages kept pouring in.
[Lust System: Expand your family, you know what I mean?]
[Lust System: Bring the sisters closer! What a thoughtful nephew and son! Show no discrimination!]
[Lust System: Sigh… just do it man.]
And immediately a pink window appeared before him.
A lust system quest had been issued.
Ray shook his head as he looked at the new quest.
He really wanted to do it as well, but it had to wait till he became the emperor.
And even then, he would need some preparations. Ambrosia had an A+ ranked mind. It would take quite some effort to convince her.
But just to be sure, for his safety and absolutely not because he wanted to, he decided to use 'Love Sight' on her.