In a small office room, Mikael sat quietly, listening as Raziel voiced his request to end the engagement. Raziel admitted that he no longer harbored any feelings of love for Sylfi.
To persuade his father, Raziel explained that their marriage would bring no advantage to the family.
The Valternorths were in a difficult position and seemed poised to drag the Harvesteads into a contentious political conflict in the future.
After Raziel finished speaking, Mikael sighed softly. He was well aware of the Valternorths' troubled situation.
However, the marriage presented two significant advantages: establishing ties with the royal family and securing reduced taxes, both of which could potentially elevate the Harvesteads to nobility within the empire.
Nobles in Gravantia receive special treatment on many occasions, such as invitations to royal parties, favorable land deals, business priority, and perhaps most beneficially, they enjoy very low tax payments to the imperial house.
Currently, the Harvestead family pays almost thirty percent in taxes, which makes it and other bourgeois families struggle to maintain their businesses without resorting to some form of tax evasion.
Yet, this approach carried great risk. If any family were caught by the Imperial Tax Collection (ITC), they would be branded as traitors, and all their property would be confiscated in the emperor's name.
Though Mikael and Jasir were experts in money laundering and bribing politicians through their businesses outside the capital city, a single misstep could bring everything to ruin.
"Raziel, did you eat shit today? Are you really that stupid?" Mikael asked, his expression serious as he tried to understand his son's reasoning.
"What?" Raziel was surprised by the sudden question.
"Look, I don't care if you love that Valternorth girl or not. The only thing I want from them are the contacts and the benefits of having a noble family entangled through matrimony," Mikael said firmly.
"So stop with your bullshit and act like a real man. You should have already made her your bitch."
Raziel's jaw dropped at his father's response, and he soon realized that breaking off the engagement wouldn't be as easy as he'd initially thought.
With his father rejecting the breakup of the engagement and Anya targeting him, the only thing going well for Raziel was improving his image in Clarice's eyes.
Although he had planned to send Clarice away after healing her mother, Raziel didn't view her as troublesome as the other heroines.
What made him uneasy around her was the complexity of his background.
Mikael was a ruthless, calculating sociopath, Jasir was a loyal lackey who'd done his fair share of shady things, and his two mothers, both High-Class A adventurers, had their names tainted by controversies involving manslaughter.
Eventually, when he finally assumed control of the family business, Raziel would be able to correct every wrongdoing they had been involved in.
So his priority was to avoid people who brought trouble and focus on getting stronger.
Using the system seemed like an option, but he decided against relying on such an untrustworthy tool.
Systems, especially conscious ones, were typically very unpredictable.
As he searched for a way to respond to his father, Raziel took a deep breath and said, "I understand. I'll stop acting like a spoiled brat and start doing something useful."
"Good to hear, but I'll be keeping a close eye on you from now on. If you don't change, you know what's going to happen," Mikael threatened, unleashing his mana pressure.
Raziel gulped, feeling intimidated by his father's display of power, but he still bowed in respect for his mercy.
Moments later, Mikael exited the room, mentioning that he would return to the main house. After pulling his flying mage robe from an golden storage ring, he soared into the sky.
The sudden appearance of his father wasn't entirely unwelcome, but it certainly wasn't good news either.
Breaking off the marriage was off the table for now, so Raziel resolved to begin training and carefully plan his next moves.
Since Erick had lost to Nozomi, he feared the drastic plot changes could lead to something bad later. Raziel only needed to survive through episode three without dying and see what would unfold.
'I need to take a bath first, then I'll read some training books,' Raziel thought, determined despite the bruises on his face.
* * *
Two days had passed, and Raziel didn't leave home as he was creating his training routine, finding the most effective way to increase mana and aura simultaneously without encountering any issues.
Right now, he was in his office room, sleeping on the ground amidst a lot of books on different categories such as mana theory, aura theory, and essence theory that a servant had bought at his order.
While he was in a deep, comfortable dream, someone entered the room silently, not wanting to wake him up.
But then the person, after getting near him, shouted, "WAKE UP, LITTLE MASTER!"
Raziel quickly got up when he heard the sudden shout, holding a book ready to throw at the person who had startled him.
Before he could do anything, Raziel stared at the person responsible for this, who was giggling at him.
The culprit in question possessed long, flowing orange hair that elegantly covered her left eye. Her flawless and delicate skin resembled freshly fallen snow, radiating a pristine beauty. She wore a well-tailored butler suit that not only exuded professionalism but also subtly accentuated her feminine contours, giving her a captivating and alluring appearance.
"Ah, it's you, Eve," Raziel said, putting on a poker face upon seeing the beautiful girl in a butler outfit.
"In flesh and bones, partner," Eve replied with a big smirk.
The girl in front of him was Eve O'Donnelly, a strong Class B Warrior specialized in ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, and tomahawks. She is relatively famous in her guild because of her stealth ability and deadly precision, earning the title of Whisperwind.
Additionally, she is Raziel's childhood friend and his bodyguard, as her parents have worked for the Harvesteads since she was very young.
But Raziel just remembered her now and somehow already felt very close to her.
In his vision, she is one hundred percent tomboy material, except for the fact that she's an assassin who would commit war crimes with a big smile on her face.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on a mission for at least one month?" Raziel asked, curious about her sudden presence, as he remembered she had died on one of her missions before the original Raziel get killed by Erick.
"I already finished, even though I almost got caught by those ugly insectoid monsters. But you know, I'm built different." Eve struck a pose, showing off her muscles.
"Luckily, Master Cyntia arrived and one-shot every single one of them!" The girl exclaimed excitedly, amazed at her master's strength.
"Mom?" Raziel recognized the name as being his mother, Cyntia Harvestead.
"Yes! She was stunning as ever and made every other adventurer shocked when she cleared that medium-monster Zone almost alone." She jumped happily, and some golden stars could be seen appearing in her eyes.
It was early in the morning, and Raziel was being energized by the girl's positivity, which made him feel hungry and prompted him to invite her to eat something in the kitchen.
When they arrived, Clarice was already finishing cooking something on what looked like an antique oven fueled by fire stones.
She then noticed they were drooling after catching a whiff of the food and told them it was already ready.
Eve picked up two plates, serving one to Raziel and keeping the other for herself. The two enjoyed the food, giving a thumbs-up to Clarice, who watched with a neutral smile.
After finishing his meal, Raziel said that he would be training mana control in the backyard, which prompted Eve to accompany him, humming a strange tune.
When Raziel entered his backyard, he quickly began to recite an earth spell.
"
*BOOM
Before he could finish reciting, a one-meter round stone ball appeared and was launched, easily destroying a nearby tree.
"What?" Raziel was stunned, not understanding what had just happened.
Eve, who was watching and eating some cookies that Clarice had given her, was also in shock, wondering how Raziel could launch a spell without properly reciting it. Only very skilled mages could do that, but even they still needed to complete a little recitation.
But what Raziel didn't know was that his body, now capable of supporting two energy types, had created a unique way to use magic. Without any need for recitations, he could now launch spells simply by thinking, thanks to his heart possessing an Low Level Aura core and One Mana Circle spinning around it.