The next day I woke up with Esy right next to me. As I looked out of the Window I realized that it was already afternoon and lunch time was already over. I was supposed to meet with Kulum Echon Necron for lunch.
It took some time for me to finally stand up, because Esy woke up and had no intention to leave the bed yet.
We stood up for dinner and attended it after freshening up a little. I carried Esy to the dining hall because she had problems walking. It earned me a lot of indecent comments from Jasmine and Hilda that made Esy blush so extreme that her hair changed color from silver to red.
In a desperate attempt to save some dignity she tried to walk alone only to realize that she couldn't, which resulted in me carrying her back into our bedroom.
From the lightning brothers I received a warm pat on the shoulder with a sonorous: "That's my man" A gesture I didn't understand at first. Apparently It is a sign of good luck when the husband has to carry his wife out of the bedroom, the day after their wedding. Later I understood.
The next day we met with Kulum Necron for Lunch.
Because Esy was still a little weak on her feet, I carried her into our personal audience room where we had everything prepared in advance. A Knight from the Nature Guard brought him to us.
Kulum Echon Necron bowed to us after he entered the room: "Lord and Lady Maxima, It is a pleasure to see you again. Let me congratulate you on your wedding again. You must know that I am the Emissary of the great Necron Empire. My eldest brother is the feared Necron Emperor, and I am here to take you to the Necron Empire. Your King, according to ancient agreements, has informed us of your existence."
"We are aware of this fact. Lord Necron," I said politely.
"Before we talk about the sensitive topics, I would like to know who planned your wedding."
"My oldest sister Jasmine planned everything. I think she started a few minutes after I was born with her first preparations, but I can't prove that. What you saw was the hasty version that was put in action 2 months ago as we were …" Esy swallowed a mouthful of saliva, " informed about your arrival."
"It makes sense, I can understand your family's action. You held the wedding as soon as possible, effectively breaking several traditions of your Kingdom. I am intrigued about your personal reason, Lord Maxima. Your wife never had any say in the matter, they never have."
"My personal reason for marrying Esy?" My voice was polite but serious. "That is none of your business."
How could I name the reason that made me marry her? There are multiple ones. Beside the fact that she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, there is also her character that I fell in love with, her smile, the way she rolls her eyes when I annoy her… So many reasons to marry Esy.
"Unfortunately, it is! You and me, we are in for a lot of trouble because of your little stunt here." Kulum became very serious, "dominating affinities are very rare. We have inconsistent numbers every year. There are millions of students that join the academies all over the empire every year. Among them are thousands of absolute affinity mages. Last year we had 4 dominating affinity talents. All of them with normal affinities. Then we get the message of your existence. 2 people with dominating peak affinities. Can you imagine the impact this news had?"
"No I can't imagine that and I am not interested in knowing." I said
"Let me enlighten you. You have the potential to become Behemoth Class Mages. A Behemoth Class Mage can lay waste to a Kingdom with ease. Two of them can slay an Empire. The Emperor fears you, that is the reason we expect our vassals to hand over their dominating affinity mages. We need to make sure that they are on our side.
"The easiest way to ensure that is by marrying them into the Imperial Family. Something that isn't possible anymore due to your hasty action. At least for Lady Maxima."
"What do you mean by that?" Esy asked exasperated.
"The Emperor came up with a perfect plan. He wanted to marry you to the third prince Gesat Necron, who has a dominating gravity affinity, an absolute space affinity and an absolute Bonding Affinity. He is hailed as a Genius and the next Beast lord of the Necron Empire.
"As for you Lord Maxima, My brother intended to marry you to my niece the princess Hatari Persan Necron, she has a dominating Nature affinity. She is hailed as the most promising offspring the Necron Empire has created in the last millenia."
"Let me guess, she is our age and will learn magic at the same academy as well." Esy said sarcastically.
"Yes, that is indeed the case. And I want to warn you my brother is no one that takes no for an answer. If he is hell bent on marrying his daughter with Lord Maxima he will do everything in his power to achieve that. Nothing is off limits for him. You should make peace with the fact that you might have to share your husband with other women."
"HELL NO!" Esy yelled on top of her lungs while jumping on her feet.
"Let me try to explain it again. Dominating affinities are super rare, most of the people with that kind of affinity are part of the Empire's upper nobility. Dukes, Arch-Dukes and stuff like that. They have inherited their affinities from their ancestors. That makes it extremely hard for us to maintain the power balance that is needed to stay 'the' Imperial Family.
"The Noble families are amassing power like crazy and we need every support we can get our hands on. We can not afford to lose two talents of your potential to one of the nobles."
"So what are you going to do? Are you going to enslave us so we comply with your wishes?" I asked
"We won't enslave you, we can't afford it. The political situation is too fragile. We can't allow us any more enemies with your potential. So name your price!"
"My price?" I asked, I hadn't expected the conversation to go like that, I expected a bloody fight to the death, "I can't give you a price if I don't know your exact demands."
"I want you to support the Necron Empire's Imperial family instead of any other noble family. Especially not the Skullfall, or the Lightforge families."
"What about the Maxima family? There might only be 3 people with my mother, my wife and myself, but I will always unconditionally support them even if I have to go against the world to archive my goal."
"Yes, I am sorry I am still viewing you as separate entities. But you now count as a separate family. Let me rephrase my question then. What is necessary for the Maxima family to support the Imperial family instead of any of the other noble houses."
"Now we are talking. First and foremost I want to take the Nature Guard with me to the Necron Empire and let them attend the same academy we do."
"A thousand men strong personal guard? Why would you need them at the academy?"
"I want them to learn the same stuff I learn, I would be a bad leader if I only educate myself with the knowledge and wisdom you have to offer."
"Ok let's say I could make that happen what would Samuel do? I assume he is your strongest subordinate as an A-Class Adventurer or an A-Class Mercenary."
"HAHAHA" Esy and I began to laugh. "He is neither an Adventurer nor a Mercenary. He is just on of the guys," Esy said after she calmed down a little.
"He is just one of the guys? What kind of nonsense is that? He defeated Gesat effortlessly! Gesat is a prince and a genius B-Class Adventurer despite only being 16 Years old."
"He isn't even registered as an Adventurer or a Mercenary, because you can only register as an Adventurer after you reach the age of 16." Esy enlightened him.
"Samuel is just one of the orphans I took into my faction and trained. He is 14 years old just like everyone else in the Nature Guard. I trained them in my free time. For 4 years I trained them in combat while I rested my body after my own training sessions." I explained
"That is mindblowing" Kulum was astonished.
"Samuel isn't even the strongest. He is only among the top 200. He has a low-level fire affinity but isn't interested in becoming a mage. His passion is the sword, the time my mages study in class he is training his body and fighting style. His ambition is to beat me in a skill duel."
"You are tricking me. Why would someone who has a magic affinity choose to be a magicless fighter. Just to beat a mage in a skill duel that makes no sense."