"Today the weather is really nice. Everything feels peaceful."
"Yeah. It's not bad to take a break once in a while."
Sitting under a large Oak tree in their garden, Adam and Sophia were enjoying their afternoon tea. Today the weather was really peaceful. The sun was hidden by the clouds. Gentle cold northern wind currents were making their time in the garden even more pleasant.
Normally The Duke and family would be having lunch at this time. Since their second child, Zak had gone to school and wouldn't come back before evening, they decided to skip lunch and enjoy their time in the garden with tea.
Leaning his back against the trunk of the Oak tree, Adam put his head on Sophia's right shoulder and looked in the distance.
"It's peaceful. But I strangely get the feeling that this peace is just silence before the storm." Adam said while remembering the shock that he got this morning.
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Flashback____
After having a light-balanced meal with his family, the Head of the Onard Family, Duke Adam went to his study room to work. As he had left for over a month, he lot of work still remains pending. On Adam's desk, there were multiple mountains of papers that needed his attention.
Sigh!
Looking at the mountain of papers on his desk, Adam deeply sighed. The man who once was known as the Wild Lion of Echo Dominion now had been tamed by mountains of papers.
"I miss my old days when I used to sleep on the battlefield." But what can poor Adam do? His wife Sophia had asked if he needed her help but the man was too prideful to let his woman work. Now Adam was kind of regretting this.
Adam picked up one of the papers and read it.
『Pardon me, Your Grace.
They came in the night and took the life of some of the villagers. Friends, family, husbands, and wives, were gone in a flash. We know who did it, but we lack the power to avenge our fallen. Please, hero, be our vengeance and unleash our fury upon those abominable beings. Unfortunately, I cannot join you, but I have faith in you, and I know you'll succeed.
They'll be no match for you, those beings. You can take out as many of them as you like, the fewer of those low lives there are in this world, the better.
We don't have enough money to hire adventurers. We could only place our hope on the Onard family. But we'll still be able to reward you with something decent.』
Adam checked the date. He found that this letter was sent to the Onard family around 4 days ago. The village head of Spring Village has written this letter to the Onard family requesting help.
Sigh!
This wasn't the first time that the people of this territory had asked for his help. Adam always tries his best to help out the people who lived in his territory. "Another pending matter. I should just hire someone who would do these small tasks."
Putting the paper aside, Adam picked up another letter and began to read what was written on it.
『Budget report of the last month.
- 10,000 gold coins on salaries.
- 5,000 gold coins on food.
- 12,000 on armor and potions.
-....』
This was Adam's regular job. The territory of a Duke was very big. While Apogale City was the main city within Adam's territory, there were other small cities, towns, and villages that Adam needed to look after as well. To make things easier, the Duke was allowed to give the rank of Barons and Knights to trustworthy men. The Barons were in charge of the smaller cities and towns while the Knights were in charge of the villages.
Each month the nobles under Adam gave him report on their budget and on their earnings and other important things. Since Adam was left for over a month, a lot of work was pending for him.
Knock! Knock!
"Walter, you can come in." Adam was able to sense Walter's Aura.
Click!
Opening the wooden door, Watson's twin brother walked inside. This was Walter. Unlike Watson, Walter was already married and had a family of his own. But compared to Watson, Walter looked much older. He had hair white and his skin was wrinkled. If both Watson and Walter stood together then no one would say that both of them are twins as Watson currently looks like he is 45 years old while Walter looks like a 69 year old grandpa.
"Walter, I am not in the mood of drinking anything." Adam said without looking at Walter. Adam just had breakfast around 30 minutes ago. He had no appetite for tea or snacks right now. Adam thought that Walter was here to give him tea and some snacks.
"Your Grace, this isn't about Tea and snacks. This is a very serious matter." Walter wasn't the type to become serious easily. But when he did become serious, it means that something very serious has happened.
So hearing Walter's serious tone, Adam immediately turned his full attention to Walter. "What happened?"
Walter looked very serious. He was deeply frowning at the same time. Walter only makes this kind of face when something really bad or something really shocking has happened. And Adam has seen this face of Walter only a few times throughout his life.
"Your Grace, I think it would be better if Her Grace was also here. Her Grace also needs to hear this."
"Alright. Someone call Sophia here." Adam said in a loud voice.
A few minutes later, Sophia was sitting next to Adam and looking at Walter. "Walter, what is it? You're making us nervous."
"Your Grace, something very shocking happened yesterday. And it's related to the Istarin Empire."
"Aditya..." Hearing this both Sophia and Adam wondered what Aditya had done this time. It only had been one day since they returned from that Icy Shattered Ruin world. Adam thought Aditya would take things easy but it seems he was wrong.
"Your Grace, you should know about the Dragon Slayer guild and how they sent its members to kill Aditya." To which Adam and Sophia nodded both of their heads.
"Yesterday, The Istarin Emperor personally went to the Dragon Slayer guild and destroyed everything. No one from the Dragon Slayer guild was spared. But this was just the beginning."
Both Adam and Sophia widened their eyes in deep shock. Both of them knew that Aditya had directly messed with the Oracle Alliance. Adam and Sophia knew would guess how the Oracle Alliance was going to retaliate.
"His Majesty, Aditya didn't stop there. When the Crown prince of the Echo Nexus Empire tried to stop him, Aditya captured Louis instead and put him in prison. The very same night, His Majesty, went on to destroy three Western Empires and gained full control of those three Empires. Now the Shadow Islands Empire, The Qezia Empire, and the Niwen Empire have become a territory of the Istarin Empire."
Hiss!!!!
Hearing all of this, Both Adam and Sophia shivered. This was just too much for them to take at once.
'There must be a good reason for Aditya's actions.' Saying these words, Adam tried to calm himself. But unfortunately, Walter wasn't done yet.
"And lastly, The Oracle Alliance and the Istarin Empire, both have declared War on each other. But in this war, no foreign Empires are not allowed to join. This means the Empires that are located in the Dying Isle continent can participate in this war. If anyone breaks this law, then the Celestial Terrain would personally intervene and take matters into their hands."
Boom!!
Both Adam and Sophia's minds froze in shock.
By now the news had spread throughout the entire Continent and was spreading throughout other continents like wildfire. Since the Celestial Terrain made this law, no other Foreign Empire or force dared to take part in it. Everyone's attention was on the Oracle Alliance and on the Istarin Empire.
-
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End of Flashback_____
"Do you think Aditya can win this war?" Sophia asked while gently stroking Adam's hair.
"I have fought beside Aditya two times. The first time was during the Goblin Invasion and the second time was when we were trapped in the Icy Shattered Ruin. Trust me, no one else knows about Aditya's power better than I do. Becoming his enemy was the worse mistake any Empire could make." While saying these words, Adam was also getting excited at the thought of fighting beside Aditya for a 3rd time.
Adam would love to see Aditya taking on armies alone. Just the thought of it excited the Wild Lion.
While Sophia and Adam were enjoying their time, Walter came to them with a letter.
"Your Grace, His Majesty wants you to go to the Capital as soon as possible. Other Dukes also have been summoned."
Hearing this Adam stood up and looked at the sky. "It's time to work."
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