"EHHH!?", Rudin, who stood at the door with her head lowered, thinking about Prince Adrian, was suddenly flabbergasted as the door of the office room burst open.
Prince Dryn yelled something that made her realize she shouldn't have heard what she just did.
"Rudin, follow me to the slave market, right now!" Dryn, clearly wanting to appear offended and angered due to his father trying to intimidate him, yelled while snapping his fingers toward Rudin, who swiftly nodded, clenching her hem as she sprinted along with him.
"Y-yes, but I don't have any money on me, Your Highness," she said, shutting her eyes before running towards him.
The first thing that came to her mind after hearing the slave market was that maybe the his higness wanted to roam around to buy some artifacts, and she told him the first thing they would need would be money.
"Father will pay." Arriving at a sufficient distance, Dryn let his acting go on before resting his hand in his pocket, shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head toward his maid, giving a wink.
'!'
"Y-your Highness, this is wrong..." Rudin, already accustomed to accompanying him for purchasing swords and other items, was used to the expenses being written off on the king's name.
Yet, she always felt how wrong it was, considering the head maid always reprimanded her for letting the prince get scammed most of the time out of his training equipment.
"I and Brother were going to do training together from tomorrow on, tch, tch. I thought I should let you join me there—" Dryn, already knowing the weak point of this maid, predicted that most probably Adrian would naturally need to become his punching bag from tomorrow on, he just used it as bargain, either way he needed his assistant on the training ground with water all the time.
'!'
"B-but, the king has enormous wealth; we are just taking a bucket out of the ocean! I will tell the carriage now!" Rudin, suddenly feeling a thump in her heart as she heard that name, swiftly forgot every teaching of the head maid and sprinted directly toward the exit of the hallway with the intention to arrange the carriage.
"...Hah, love really makes people go crazy," Dryn said, looking towards Rudin's disappearing back through the corridor. He shook his head and chuckled, given his firsthand experience with it, then focused on his path, keeping steady steps.
Until—
"What love?" A girlish voice interrupted him in the middle.
His whole body stiffened as he paused, lifting his head to turn back toward the direction where a young man stood along with a girl around the same age as him, the girl's head tilted as she seemed curious about his words.
"Oh, hello, Natalia....long time no see..."
.
.
.
.
.
'D-did he just?' Adrian, seated there, was still trying to make sense of everything.
Dryn had literally yelled at their father while exiting the room in such a way that it was a sight he could never imagine.
This prompted him to glance back at the king, who also seemed surprised, standing there while looking towards the door blankly before meeting his gaze.
"Do you also think I am senile?" King Lutheran inhaled, turning towards the desk.
His hand grazed the desk as he halted and glanced at Adrian, expecting to hear his answer.
As a father, he could only intimidate so much, and today it appeared his younger son, due to the awakening of his ability, seemed to know more than him.
Perhaps he was wrong to make such reckless decisions.
Considering how he naturally did not trust anyone but himself, he had thought he would easily be able to overpower the strongest of the Empires, which would lead the soldiers to lose their morale, causing everything to slow down.
However, after hearing the exact power levels of those five, he realized that even if he were to confront three of them, the presence of a military strategist possessing the power level of a Tactician Emperor would turn the tide of the battle.
A war is not fought by a single person, no matter how strong he is.
Soldiers are important, as is military strategy, and he just lacked it.
He had the strength and was even confident enough to leave a long-lasting scar on the empire's history, but the cost would be his own kingdom.
Only if, as per Dryn's prediction, the paragons betrayed him.
So, was he really senile to think like this a moment ago?
"No, father, you are the most respected man I have ever seen," Adrian genuinely uttered, even though there was definitely a contradiction between him and his father due to his strict nature towards him.
Still, he knew that the kingdom of Atlanta could never have a better king than him.
His decisions were always meant to preserve the prosperity of this kingdom.
However, a moment ago, he had doubts about whether his kingdom would be massacred if it were to go against the empire.
But after listening to Dryn and knowing that his father's power level was equal to that of the Emperors of the other two strongest Empires among the three present in the human zone, he realized they had a chance to win.
"Respect doesn't always make my decisions correct, Adrian," King Lutheran said. Hearing that answer, he had a fleeting smile as he took a seat, looking towards his older son, with whom he had been very strict.
Perhaps, because Adrian did not possess the advantage that the younger one did—angel seed, he wanted him to become stronger, but he had been harsher on him.
Yet, he seemed to respect him nonetheless, which made King feel good enough.
"But can't it be possible that this respect is born from the decisions you took in the past?" Adrian nodded, considering he genuinely felt the image of his father elevation in his eyes, clearly looking at him in a new light, as the respect he had for the king had now turned towards respect for the power seated in front of him.
"....You know how to talk....," King Lutheran remarked, looking towards his older son, who was different from the younger one but still knew how to play with the boards.
This caused him to smile before he clenched his hand and closed his eyes, reconsidering what he had just said.
He realized that perhaps he was making a bad decision and should, at least in some matters, trust Dryn's ability and confirm them before making a decision himself.
After all, just possessing the ability to see the future did not make him mature enough to take valid decisions for the kingdom.
'....Dryn seems to be acting strange', Adrian was reconsidering his doubts about his younger brother, who for the first time referred to him as brother and was definitely acting suspicious, even if, according to his claim, he had awakened two abilities.
"Adrian, I have decided. Take the paper out of the dustbin and note down its details on another piece of paper, go," the king ordered.
"Huh? What?" Adrian, who had been thinking about something else, suddenly being ordered by the king, lifted his gaze, only to find his line of sight directed towards the testament.
He pointed his finger towards it, trying to confirm that the king really meant it.
"Go, I already told you, didn't I? Write down what was on it again," King Lutheran said firmly, feeling second-hand embarrassment as he realized that a moment ago he had torn the paper and thrown it in the dustbin, and was now telling Adrian to write the details mentioned on it again.
'Dryn was right all along then,' Adrian thought, having no other option, stood up and made his way toward the dustbin, kneeling down and starting to take out the paper pieces from it.
While accepting the unfortunate reality about his father having gone senile, as stated by Dryn.
"May I enter, Your Majesty?" came a voice just outside the door of the office. The king, already knowing who it was, responded in a calm voice.
"Baron Crusius, you should have just left the kingdom instead of coming here," he said, looking towards a man with glasses and a thin physique entering. The man rubbed his head and gave a 90-degree bow.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty, it was Natalia who wanted to meet His Highness for the last time..."