It's been a couple of years since my reincarnation. How many?
About 9 give or take.
Honestly, it's been quite boring. I've never left the palace proper and I can only explore it so many times before I get bored, not that exploring it is easy.
The palace itself is about the size of a university campus, and it has 5 levels, two underground and 3 above.
I've never been underground, but I'm told that the first level is for storage and that the second is for miscellaneous activities, though if I had to guess, it was probably a dungeon or a more secure area for things that couldn't be stored in the regular storage area, hell maybe it was the secret lair to some secret organisation, who knows.
The main floor is what you'd expect of a place, giant dining halls, meeting rooms of various sizes, and other rooms of differing uses. To be honest, I didn't know what every room did, there were just too many.
The second floor was dedicated almost entirely to bedrooms and lounge areas. I had no idea why there were so many, as even considering the staff's needs, there were way too many, and I had never seen any gathering hosted here last overnight.
Honestly, I could probably sleep in a different room every day for a year, maybe more if I wanted.
I mean, who even needs so many bedrooms?
It's like they're expecting half the capital to spend a night at the palace.
Is this what it feels like to be a nouveau rich?
Anyways, the third floor is where the owner of the palace and their family resided, which just so happened to be my mother and I.
There weren't as many rooms as on the second level, maybe only about a dozen.
The rest of the space was filled with large terraces, a massive lounge area, miscellaneous rooms of various sizes, and a garden area where one could enjoy the brilliance of nature without having to walk the ridiculous distance from the 3rd level to the outer garden.
Of course, it only felt ridiculous because of my size, but I digress.
Anywho, today was a special day. Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you.
Today is the last day of my 'Fundamental Lessons', which was excruciatingly annoying. Imagine having to go back to kindergarten and have everyone treat you as some brain-dead crustacean.
It was degrading and quite annoying, so I didn't even bother to try to hide the fact that I was more intelligent than your average 2-year-old, which was kind of worth it, since now instead of a braindead crustacean, they treated me as some kind of once in a century genius.
Though that kind of attention was also annoying, it was better than being treated as an idiot I guess.
Anyways, through my efforts, I had become completely fluent in this country's language in about a year and a half, and now, I had completed the entire curriculum 5 years early.
It wasn't easy either.
There were a lot of additional topics that I had to learn, like how to use proper etiquette, how to ride a horse, how to set up various types of balls and other events, how to receive guests and foreign diplomats, etc.
Not only that, but I also had to learn various combat techniques, this was an empire that worshipped the God of War after all.
Since I was blessed by Enoch himself, I thought I'd be at least decent at my combat lessons, and I was, but maybe I was too good.
See after a few lessons with Elric, it became apparent that I could memorise any technique that I saw and reproduce it with a high degree of accuracy.
The problem?
Suddenly, I was forced to learn EVERY combat technique that the palace had available to it.
From dual-wielding daggers and axes to using swords, spears and bows on horseback, even knife-throwing techniques.
Hell, there was a technique that was scarily similar to the Santoryu sword style from a certain pirate anime.
But see that wasn't the problem either, although it was extremely difficult and incredibly annoying, it was at least doable.
See the problem came after because according to Cephi, just knowing how to fight wasn't enough. No. I also had to learn how to endure.
I thought it'd been talking about my stamina, but boy, was I wrong.
On our very first lesson, Cephi disappeared from my sight, and in the next second, I felt an indescribable piercing pain in my chest.
Looking down, I could see Cephi's gauntleted arm clutching my heart.
I stared at my still-beating heart for a second, but no thoughts could form in my mind, and then I lost consciousness.
I had really thought that I'd died but after a few minutes, I woke up again.
I was still in the Sparring Hall and had been laying on the floor.
I immediately checked my chest and noticed a gaping hole in my clothes, but strangely enough, there was no hole in my chest, hell there wasn't even a scar.
I turned my head and noticed that Cephi was patiently standing behind me, its upper right arm covered in blood.
My mind had blanked out again as I put two and two together.
When I recovered, strangely instead of fear or anger, all I felt was a slight annoyance. I'd asked it why it couldn't warn me in advance about what it was about to do, to which it just shrugged.
Of course, I was already aware of the fact that I was immortal, Cephi had explained it along with the other characteristics of my blessing soon after my birth.
Not only was I immortal, but my mental state was also unshakable.
Well, unshakable wasn't the right word, but basically, no matter how surprised, angry, depressed, or happy I felt, I'd never show it and would always remain calm.
Of course, that doesn't mean I won't feel the emotions, just that I'd be able to stay calm and clear-headed no matter what.
It's come in handy on many shall we say, troublesome occasions.
In any case, those 'training sessions' with Cephi had become the absolute worst part of being reborn.
I mean, I was a prince for crying out loud. Not just any old prince either, I was the sole prince of an Empire.
Now, you may think to yourself, isn't an empire just a larger version of a kingdom? And yeah, it kind of is, but in this world, compared to a kingdom, an empire has a much larger pool of resources and authority, not to mention that to gain the status of an empire, you must be recognised by one of the 5 Great Gods.
For that reason, there are currently only two nations that can flaunt the title of Empire. The Empire of Aegis, recognised by the God of War, Enoch, and the Empire of Lemoria, recognised by the Goddess of Luck and Profit, Fae.
As the sole prince of this empire, did I really need to go through such traumatizing training? Shouldn't I be hand-fed grapes by beautiful servants while I lounge around all day?
Shouldn't I be going around in the nearby capital causing problems with my 'young master' status?
Why am I shedding my literal blood, sweat and tears in the training hall then?
It wasn't like being immortal made me unable to feel pain either, I felt every decapitation, every stab wound, every time I was cleaved in two, honestly if not for Enoch's blessing, I would've gone insane.
As I walked down one of the Crimson Palace's many halls lost in thought, I came across a door guarded by Elric.
"Your mother is waiting inside, Prince Adam," he said.
I simply nodded my head gently and walked through the door, closing it behind me.
Opening the door revealed a medium-sized office space that was largely empty, except for a large desk and comfy-looking armchair that sat in the corner of the room.
On the desk sat several neatly arranged stacks of documents.
Behind the desk sat a beautiful woman who looked to be in her late 20s, she had short red hair and was staring seemingly absentmindedly out the nearby window.
She turned her head to look at me and smiled softly.
Being familiar with the subsequent series of events, I made my way behind the desk and lifted my arms.
Audrey, my mother, lifted me and gently put me to sit on her lap, and began to stroke my hair.
"You've made me proud again, Adam. Sir Cephiros has told me that you've completed your training with him?"
"Sir? Cephi isn't a boy mum."
"Yes, yes, anyways, considering that you've completed your formal education for the while, I'm thinking of giving you an important mission. Are you up for it?"
"A mission? What kind?"
Audrey Took a document from the table and gave it to me.
"The Governor of the Eastern Territory has been assassinated, we've already found those responsible, so you're not going there to investigate, don't worry,"
I nodded in response.
"We were going to send a temporary official, but I thought that you can use this opportunity to consolidate all that you've learned."
"I see," I reply.
"Of course, you can decline, instead, I can send you to Zyecharius Academy."
"Zyecharius Academy?" I ask.
"As you know, the Kingdom of Scesia has the largest number of believers of the God of Knowledge. It's also where their church is headquartered. The church's headquarters also serves as an academy, its name is actually the same as the God of Knowledge's."
"Isn't that blasphemous?" I ask.
According to what I know about the gods, invoking their names in vain or in a heretical manner can lead to divine punishment, hence why they're usually referred to by their titles.
"The God of Knowledge tacitly allows it if it's in relation to the academy, and not himself," she said.
"So, which would you like to do?" she asked.
"How old are the academy's students usually?" I ask.
"About 15," she responds.
I close my eyes and think for a bit.
Becoming the temporary governor of an entire territory would seem annoying, wouldn't it? But here's the thing. I don't actually have to do any work. Behold, the greatest power of middle management, delegation.
When I get there, I can just appoint someone as my regent and laze around.
In comparison, the Idea of spending my time with a bunch of hormonal teenagers is...not great.
In the first place, I'll be 6 years younger than them, that's just asking to get isolated and bullied.
Of course, It's not like they'll really bully me, I'm the Prince of an Empire first and foremost.
But things like spreading rumours, avoiding me, and just making my overall life unpleasant are definitely possible.
Overall, going to the eastern territory is the better choice, as I won't have to do too much or deal with too many troubling people.
"I'll go to the Eastern Territory."
Audrey smiles a bit before patting my head softly.
"Good choice. Come, let me explain everything in detail for you."