Nicadia was one of the six kingdoms of the Rayzle Empire. These Kingdoms stood close to each other, defending against external forces trying to invade the Empire.
The royal family of the empire resided in the Kingdom of Astyx, the most secure and strongest kingdom in the empire.
These kingdoms were friendly with each other and allowed interaction between citizens of each another. Inter-kingdom trades were a common thing too. Merchants sold their goods in different places outside their respective kingdoms.
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In a circular room that was scantily lit up by lights hung on the wall and the full moon that shone into the room, a round table was mounted at the center.
At the center of the table, there was a luminous orb that was over ten inches in diameter that lit up the activities around the table. Fifteen chairs lined up around the table, each occupied by an individual.
One of such chairs seemed of a higher quality than the others.
Of course, it was made to be so. The seat belonged to none other than King Vedor, King of Vedorg.
A man with a brown long beard and hair that had a part braided. He seemed more like a Barbarian. Adorned in royal raiments, he sat on his silver chair with one hand folded and the other stroking his beard.
"They've been dormant for decades now so it's obvious that something must be going on in that family right now!" One of the men spoke, his voice filled with enough weight to bury the side talks in the room.
Another man turned to him. "We'll have to do something about that. For the Samiel family to produce three unrivaled geniuses in one generation, is absurd. It sounds like bait."
The king stroking his beard finally spoke. "It does sound like bait but if we keep waiting, taking them out would become harder. We waited in the case of Rachel Samiel, the eldest daughter, and now, she's pst the level where we can eliminate her. The other two still don't stand a chance against our methods so we'll have to act fast!"
"Yes, My King!" The other fourteen members spoke out in unison.
"Good. Get me the Reaper!" King Vedor said with a nod.
Rumble!
The members of the room felt their entire being quiver.
Although Vedorg Kingdom seemed friendly with Nicadia, they were fighting underneath.
In fact, all kingdoms had infighting. No one allowed the other to produce more geniuses than the other in any generation. Anyone deemed as a threat by another kingdom would be secretly eliminated.
This was especially so for the Kingdom of Vedorg. The Tyrannical Ruler, King Vedor was the one that did most of such atrocious acts.
Anyone he saw as a threat from other kingdoms, they would be erased before they grew stronger.
He had many assassins for such a mission but the one he had just called upon—The Reaper—was the most dangerous of them all. He would never be called upon randomly as his commission was humongous.
Although it was huge, this killer always got the job done. He had eliminated over a score of geniuses from the other five kingdoms.
"Yes!" One of the men stood and bowed before walking out of the room to summon the Reaper as ordered.
Although he left immediately, he was filled with fear and terror. The reaper was deemed mentally unstable as he only assassinated geniuses of a certain caliber. If he didn't see the job fit for himself, he could as well just kill his commissioner. He was that unstable mentally. Being one of the weaker members of the room he had just left, he knew an arduous journey was ahead of him.
He had to somehow convince the reaper that this job could only be done by him and that would require much work.
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"So, how much is it?" Seth asked Raiden who had just arrived at their training room.
Last night, he had given Raiden the mission to ask how much his mother's treatment bill would cost.
"About that. It's over a hundred uhm… thousand." Raiden replied, scratching the back of his neck.
"A thousand? Or a hundred thousand?" Seth asked for clarification. The way Raiden answered made it seem like he first called a hundred and then a thousand.
"Yes, a hundred thousand. It's a bit over a hundred thousand." He was a bit hesitant to name the price.
A hundred thousand gold coins was half a decade's worth of salary for him and he definitely couldn't wait half a decade to save up that amount.
What was even more troubling was how on earth this fourteen-year-old was going to help him out.
Yes, the Samiel family could provide that amount even with their dwindling wealth but why should they?
"Hmm…" Seth rubbed his chin, lost in a moment of thought.
"Okay. I'll have the money prepared tomorrow. You certainly have to treat and train me better after this." Seth said after a while of thinking.
His only requirement for helping Raiden was to be treated and trained well.
"Sure…" Raiden replied halfheartedly. He didn't see a reason to believe Seth's words but he also didn't see a reason not to believe it.
Seth was the heir to the Samiel so they could probably afford to do this for him.
Raiden was still thinking of ways through which Seth could provide the money when he heard Seth's voice.
"Hey, we still haven't done anything today. What are you zoning out for? The bill is as good as covered." Seth yelled, snapping Raiden out of his thoughts.
Raiden looked at Seth as he opened his mouth to reply but he shook his head and stood up.
Before his personal duties, he had a professional one and that was training Seth as best as he could.
He rose to his feet and patted the dust off the butt of his leather pants.
"Today's training is going to be a level tougher." Raiden walked forward, cracking his knuckles and neck.
"Well, the tougher the better." Seth replied, getting into a stance that showed he was ready for whatever Raiden would throw at him today.
'How about teaching him a lesson just this once?' Seth asked himself.
'No! It's still too early.' He shook away his thoughts that would likely make Raiden cough blood if he heard it.
Like that, the training commenced with Seth, taking a beating like the previous days.
He had plans involving Raiden but none could be put into action yet.
So for now, he would gladly accept the beatings Raiden dished out to him because soon, it would be too late.
'Enjoy it while it lasts.' Those were Seth's final words before he was slammed against a wall.