The day before the conference, the Emperor and Eurius had a secret conversation that went something like this.
"You want me to give you a chance to create your own personal force?"
"Yes."
The Emperor looked serious.
He knew what that meant.
"Grand Duke is not someone you can easily deal with. I admit that you are talented, but I heard that you faced a dangerous situation this time."
Eurius opened his mouth again with a stiff expression.
"But I think that would be better than a civil war breaking out."
However, the Emperor refused once more with a firm tone.
"This is for your safety. You can't stay in the capital forever, and Grand Duke will keep aiming for your life. I can't stand to see that!"
Grand Duke was already showing his blatant moves.
He didn't dare to touch him in the capital, but who could guarantee that something like the incident in the north wouldn't happen again?
Eurius smiled bitterly at his words.
"Then you mean that if I have the ability to protect myself, you will allow me to do it?"
"Yes. But outside the capital… Huh?"
The Emperor blinked his eyes.
Eurius, who was in front of him, suddenly disappeared.
'Is it because of my age that I see things?'
"…?"
But soon Eurius appeared again in front of him.
"Hmm…"
The Emperor groaned.
He was also trained as a knight of considerable level.
No matter how old he was, he wouldn't miss someone disappearing in front of his eyes.
There was only one possibility that came to his mind if a person could do such a trick.
The Emperor looked at Eurius with a surprised expression.
"You said you had no talent, but did you already reach it?"
"That's right."
Eurius told the Emperor about how he broke through the fourth stage barrier, excluding the details about the Player's System.
Only then did the Emperor realize why Eurius was able to establish his own force.
"But that's not the important thing."
Eurius started to persuade the Emperor again by telling him about the risk of civil war.
"It seems that the empire could really be split in half if we're not careful."
The Emperor honestly didn't care about that.
He wasn't called the Iron-blooded emperor for nothing. But he nodded his head with a pleased expression, contrary to his inner thoughts.
"Then try it as you wish. But if you think you can't handle it, I will make you crown prince and deal with Grand Duke."
The biggest reason why the Emperor opposed him was for Eurius's safety. But if he reached the level of Superhuman, he wouldn't have to worry much about protecting himself.
Moreover, what he appreciated most was Eurius's discretion in hiding it until now.
'It's a bit annoying that he didn't tell me, but he had a reason for it and more importantly, he thwarted Grand Duke's scheme once, so it wouldn't hurt to trust him once.'
He thought that it was a result of many coincidences that things went well in the north despite Grand Duke's involvement, but if Eurius's words were true, then it was almost as if Grand Duke got hit hard by Eurius's surprise attack.
'Looking at it overall, I thought he was less intelligent than Leonhart, but it turned out that he wasn't.'
If he could act like that at his age, then he could trust him and leave him alone for a while.
Even after Eurius finished talking and left, the Emperor still smiled and nodded his head repeatedly.
***
As soon as the conference ended, most of the officials had to leave with puzzled expressions, except for a few.
"Why did he give him only the authority instead of giving him the crown prince position?"
"It's strange, isn't it? It was also unexpected that the Grand Duke didn't have much opposition."
It was still one of the crown prince's authorities to have a knight order, even if it was just one.
Eurius was still young and had many opportunities to establish his own force, but once he gave him this authority, it wouldn't be hard for him to have his own military power like Grand Duke later.
In other words, it was almost the same as the Emperor marking Eurius as his successor without directly appointing him.
As expected by the officials, the Emperor planned to gradually increase Eurius's authority.
If he did so, the succession structure would be solidified eventually, even if he wasn't officially crown prince.
Of course, this was only possible when Eurius could resist Grand Duke's interference well.
Although they had some kind of negotiation, Grand Duke was still grinding his teeth.
'I really need to call Wallace and scold him. What the hell did he see for over ten years?'
He avoided the worst situation of the civil war, but Grand Duke was not happy at all.
On the other hand, Eurius also felt a question from his conversation with the Emperor, although he got what he wanted.
'It's good that he corrected himself, but is he healthy enough to think about starting a war at this point?'
According to his memory from his previous life, he would ascend to the throne in about five years. But the emperor he knew was different from the one he saw this time.
He seemed too vigorous, no matter how he thought about it.
'Could there be a reason for my father's death?'
It was originally a ridiculous story that could be laughed off.
As far as he knew, his father, the current emperor, died of old age and it was confirmed by the Medit Church who worship the God of Healing.
'But there are no impossible things in the world.'
Wasn't his case like that? Player? Regression to childhood? No one would believe it if he told them.
'I have to keep an eye on him. I don't know what will happen to my father.'
***
As soon as the Emperor gave him permission, the creation of the knight order proceeded quickly.
"Move the residence of First Prince Eurius to Eles Palace and station the knight order and guard troops there!"
Eles Palace was a palace located a little away from the capital. It was rarely used, but it was also a fortress that could defend the way to the capital in case of emergency, so it had facilities to station soldiers.
He couldn't give him territory because he was a prince, but he prepared a basis for him to create his own force.
Depending on how much merit he accumulated later, he could expand his scale as much as he wanted.
Eurius felt grateful for the Emperor's consideration and started working on creating the knight order.
'The first problem is recruiting knights…'
First of all, the knights who worked with him in the north were all under his command.
Their loyalty and skills were unquestionable.
But they were not enough to call it a knight order, so he planned to recruit a lot of people this time.
'I hope some good talents will join me.'
As soon as he posted the announcement, applications started pouring in from all directions.
But even as he saw the amount of documents piled up, Eurius shook his head inwardly.
'Most of the skilled knights already belong somewhere. It's not very meaningful to gather them like this.'
His position had risen, but for those who wanted to advance, the prince's personal knight order was not as attractive as the ancient guard knight order or the central knight order.
'I'll just weed out the trash and gather the ones with some potential and train them harshly. That should do it.'
At least, the knights he brought from the north were quite elite, so he was comforted.
'First, I have to decide on the organization.'
The recruitment of knights was ongoing, so he could conduct it when he thought there were enough applicants.
"First of all, Heinz, you'll be the commander. You're the best for it."
"Yes, sir."
He answered crisply, unlike his humble appearance.
In fact, there was an implicit agreement among the knights who followed Eurius.
'The commander should be the most skilled one. Among us, there is no one else but Heinz.'
The next thing to decide was the deputy commander.
This was also almost decided.
"And Linfield, you'll be the deputy commander. You're good at it!"
Linfield was also a knight with excellent skills and intelligence.
He had outstanding abilities as a lieutenant, so he had faith that he would assist Heinz well.
"Thank you for entrusting me with such a heavy responsibility, Your Highness!"
'So far, it's practically decided, but the next one is a problem.'
As he thought that, Eurius felt his head ache again.
Of course, what he was looking at was a woman standing with other knights.
As soon as his knight order creation was decided, Beatrix also volunteered to join.
He tried to refuse at first.
"Rize, you've gained enough experience and merit in the field, so wouldn't it be better to go back to the Holy Kingdom and focus on training?"
"I'm sorry. I still want to stay in the empire."
A clear expression of rejection. He didn't expect her to be so stubborn, so he even sent a letter to the Holy Kingdom.
[Duke, your daughter ran away, aren't you going to take her back?]
He wasn't worried at that time.
'That eight-armed duke would use any means to take his daughter back this time.'
But contrary to Eurius's expectation, the answer was polite but in summary it came like this.
[Hmm… We have a reputation as a noble martial family, so we can't take back our daughter who joined a foreign knight order. She's immature but please take good care of her.]
In fact, Duke Dios was smiling happily. Everything went well anyway, didn't it? He pushed her to stay in the empire, but he had no intention of bringing her back to the Holy Kingdom.
But Eurius was confused.
'Huh? That's not it?'
He thought Duke Dios would drag her back by force, but his expectation was wrong. In the end, his plan to send her back to the Holy Kingdom was completely scrapped.
'Well, she's too determined anyway, and it's safer for me to keep her than to leave her under someone else.'
Besides, her skills were outstanding. In fact, considering his future plans, he needed more talents than ever.
"Rize, you'll be one of the squad leaders. I know it's not a position that matches your skills, but you still need to gain more experience."
In terms of skills alone, Beatrix was slightly better than Heinz. But she was young and had to get along with other knights, so he decided that putting her in a high position was premature.
"I understand."
She also didn't come to the empire for promotion purposes, so she accepted it willingly.
He also appointed a few verified knights as squad leaders and completed a simple organization structure.
"Then focus on training for now. We'll see who we'll pick as new recruits later!"
He still had a weak force compared to Grand Duke, but he was gradually increasing his people like this.