In a dimly lit room somewhere in the main continent of Kepalta, some people were gathered together secretly.
The atmosphere around the room was restless but two people appeared to be not affected by it.
These two people sat down imposingly in front of a round table and were facing each other. Behind them stood other individuals wearing sets of tough-looking body armor with their hands behind their backs and stood straight with stern faces.
However, among all of them, there was a person who looked extremely nervous as they stood opposite the two sitting men.
"So? Does that means that everything is going according to the plan?" A middle-aged man who was sitting on one of the chairs asked. His voice was annoyingly high-pitched. He had a bald head and a goatee beard and his name were Balista, a level 6 Lord.
"Mmm… It seems so." One of the two men sitting on the chairs answered with a deep voice and nodded his head slightly. He had buffed muscle and his face looked like it was carved from a rock, and even though he was beardless, his blond hair attracted Balista's eyes. His name was Randolph and he was a level 7 Lord.
They were listening to the report of a spy, one of the few who managed to infiltrate the inner part of the government of Kepalta.
This spy told them about the major events that happened inside of the royal castle during the last few years and also about the progress of their plan to destroy Jilius's legacy.
One of them was there because of old grudges and the one because of mere jealousy and desire to control the resources of the planet, but whatever their reason might have been, they had the same goal and decided to join hands.
Balista let out an annoying-sounding laugh as he imagined Julius's face. "He let his guard down and now he won't even see this coming. Hahaha!"
"Mmmm..."
The military corp of Kepalta which was composed of a shadow corp, knights, and also millions or so of regular soldiers, was powerful and extremely loyal to Julius because most of them were people who admired, respected, and were grateful to him.
Also, the internal personnel of the Kepalta's government was very trustworthy and loyal to their Lord so it was hard for spies to infiltrate.
However, it was not impossible and some spies managed to infiltrate.
Even so, these spies couldn't make any move because Julius was a very cautious person. He was very perceptive and had a godlike intuition so suspicious people wouldn't be able to approach his family.
Some high-level Lords also knew about the story of Julius before he changed his name to Kepalta and they knew that he had ties with someone in the Empire, so they were afraid to make any unwise move that might lead to the destruction of their entire family.
However, time had changed and Julius now had a son.
"This kid doesn't even look that special…Mmmm." Randolph mumbled in a deep voice as he looked at the picture of a black-haired boy.
From the report, they were told that Adam was a genius but he lacked ambitions and ego, unlike his father. He seemed to be nothing more than a kid that didn't know what to do with his abilities.
Balista licked his dry mouth with his tongue. "Hehehe, Julius seems to always brag about this brat though. I can't wait to his face when the kid dies in front of his eyes. My blood is boiling with excitement just thinking about it."
It looked disgusting even for Randolph but he ignored it since their goal aligned, otherwise, he would have buried this disgusting man's head in the ground.
The coming of age ceremony was the perfect time to make a move since envoys from the Empire and Lords from other planets will come to attend this ceremony, so if Randolph and Balista wanted to execute their plan, then it had to be when people's attention was focused on Adam, otherwise, Julius wouldn't let anyone approach his family without him noticing. He was a level 6 gift holder after all and he was strong enough to fend off sneak attackers.
Still, his family and he were always protected permanently by the shadow corp and by the royal knights, so there was no opportunity for a traitor to make their move, for example, to poison them, because every move of the people in the surrounding of the Lord and his family were carefully monitored day and night by extremely loyal guards.
But this time, Julius allowed a lot of foreigners to come to his planet since it was a special occasion and he had to straighten the level of security and inspection all around the planet, but he wouldn't expect that a traitor had already infiltrated his ranks.
It will be a disaster if he couldn't figure that out and he might lose his wife and his son.
"Mmm… Still, can these artifacts summon level 4 monsters?" Randolph pondered out loud as he took the purple stone which was next to Adam's picture in his hand and inspected it.
"Yes, these are authentic artifacts. Even though they are banned by the Empire, I managed to put my hand on them in the black market. Kukuku…" Balista answered excitedly as he took the other purple stone in his hand.
Randolph seemed satisfied with Balista's reply so turned his attention toward the person who was standing nervously in front of him.
"Mmm… You know the consequences if you fail, so I recommend you carefully hide these stones and wait for the right moment to activate them near the target. You shouldn't be discovered by anyone and no one should ever have a suspicion about you. Now go!" He said. freeweb novel.com
After hearing Randolph's words, the spy exited the room holding a ragged sack.
*****
:::[Adam's POV]:::
The weather was great. It was hot but the gentle wind brought a cool sensation to my skin.
I walked in direction of the royal garden to discuss with my father, or rather, to perform that father and son ritual.
We would do this every year and I would listen to the same story but with different twists added to it from time to time.
Still, it was not like I disliked this kind of interaction between my father and me. This was something I never experienced in my past life so I was never used to it. "It's not bad though..."
As soon as I appeared at the entrance of the unique-looking building which looked like a much bigger version of the Louvre from the Earth, my father noticed me and excitedly waved his hand and gestured for me to come at him.
I noticed that my mother was there too so I realized that this was some kind of family meeting and the discussion would last for a while.
My parents were sitting around a luxurious white table that had various tea sets and luxurious sweets on top of it.
"Here is the man. Look at you! Aren't you looking like a real man?" My father said enthusiastically and tapped my back brusquely that I almost stumbled.
I felt like he just repeated the same compliment two times. "Father..."
Unlike my father who was too excited, my mother was calm and she looked at me with a face full of satisfaction, "Adam, how are you doing?" She said with a smile.
"I am doing great, mother," I replied curtly, taken aback by the moods of my parents.
After that, my father and I sat on our respective chairs and my mother began to pour some tea inside our cups. She was skilled at it and her movements were smooth and elegant.
The tea had an appeasing aroma and tasted great. "So, what do you want to discuss, father?" I asked as I took a sip from my cup.
"Yes, about that, the empire has sent me a notice saying they will send an envoy to assess your abilities. They will arrive shortly." freewebnovel.c(o)m
"For what purpose?"
As soon as he heard my question, excitation showed on my father's face. "Haha. Guess what? Even though the Holy Academy only accepts children of level 7 Lord and higher, they decided to make an expectation and you'll be able to attend the Holy Academy as soon as they finish assessing your abilities."
"That's great. Lately, I was thinking about this too," I replied with a calm face but there was a hint of excitement in my voice.
I had already about the rumors concerning the envoy from the empire when I was reading at the library but now it was confirmed at one hundred percent.
In this universe, interstellar and space travel was something rather common for planets under the jurisdiction of a level 5 Lord, and building spaceships for sake of long-distance travel was not new.
Lord of every planet affiliated to the empire was evaluated and given a rank based on their influence and power, the total population that they managed, the state of their territory and its extent, as well as the advancement of civilization and technology.
They were ranked from levels 1 to 10.
To put it simply, Lords from levels 1 to 4 were considered low-ranked Lord and didn't have much influence outside of their territory.
Their territory was also relatively small, most of the time a single planet, and the civilization and technology were not that advanced but they were recognized by the empire to have the potential to grow and become part of its power, so they were left alone to manage their territory and earn achievements to prove their usefulness to the Empire and advance in ranks.
The Lords ranked between 5 to 7 were those who had an important influence, a vast territory constituted of few planets, and controlled a few low-ranked Lords, giving them control over territory with a vast population as well as an advanced form of civilization and technology. They were considered as part of the force of the empire and received some benefits from it, but they needed to support the empire with the war against the monster and the rebels.
The Lord's rank was hereditary but a Lord could be demoted as feasibly as they could be promoted depending on their contributions and achievements.
It might take 3 to four generations for a planet to have its Lord advancing in rank since there were too many variables that needed to be taken into account when it came to the development of civilization.
The Lords ranked from 8 to 10 were very influential and their territories were located near the Imperial territories.
These Lords had a vast territory and control hundreds of low-ranked Lords and manage hundreds of planets that had advanced civilizations and technology, and in addition to that, they were also tightly related to the royalties and formed factions that supported a candidate as the next Emperor.
Nevertheless, it didn't mean that the low-ranked Lords could access more advanced technology because on some of the planets where the civilization appeared to be similar to medieval time Earth, such as the planet under the jurisdiction of the Kepalta family, the government could possess more advanced technology when it came to traveling in space.
This was one of the biggest changes that the Empire brought to this entire universe and what surprised me the most was when I learned about how this world functioned.
Here space travel was accessible to everyone as long as they were acknowledged by the Empire. This created links between people living on completely different planets that were situated millions of kilometers away from each other, and Because of that, the Empire could send people anywhere in the universe and receive reports concerning events related to monsters or other important occurrences.
Also, if I wanted to meet the finest woman in this universe, then I needed to attend the holy academy which was the gathering of talents and prideful people.
"I see, so you already thought about that. I didn't know that you had such an ambition but I am glad that you want to do it. I even had to talk with some unpleasant people to arrange this meeting after all…" My father's face turned gloomy at the end of his speech.
He probably had to contact people related to his former family which was something that he disliked. I didn't know what kind of method he used but he sure wasn't pleased about interacting with these people.
"Thanks, father," I replied gently, seeing my father's hard work.
After hearing these words, my father quickly regained his composure and began to talk loudly again. "Don't mention it. However, you need to give it your best tomorrow and today too! I look forward to hearing your speech. After all, you don't talk that much usually. Hahaha."
"I-I will try my best..." I answered a little bit nervously.
My mother who stayed quiet until then finally said something, perhaps because she noticed that I reacted to my father's words. "Adam, this is not something that you should fear. You can be nervous but don't be scared to face your people. You need to stand dignifiedly and do your utmost so that I and your idiot of father, and every person living on this planet, can be proud of you."
She had a delightful look on her face, but a part of what she said made my father sit straight and gracefully took a sip from his cup.
She inferred that I was gifted, and even if it was my first time, she believed that I could do it.
"I understand mother. Thank you, I will do my best to make you proud." I said because I liked my new parents and I wanted to repay them for all of the things that they did for me until now.
"Your mother is right, you see…"
After that, my father finally began to talk about his past exploit and his epic eloping story with my mother.
Like a story from these classical works on Earth, it seemed that my parents were from two families that belonged to two rival factions.
My mother, who was still beautiful years later, was described as the most beautiful woman in the whole universe at that time.
I knew that my father exaggerated a bit to please my mother but looking at her from where I sat, I couldn't help but believe this description.
My father who was partly bragging talked about how he snatched my mother from her family and then brought her to a faraway planet.
From the way he said it, he had only a few hundred loyal men who supported him but those who chased him were more than a hundred thousand people.
It was a very interesting story but I always hear about it every year.
After his story, my father continued and gave me advice. "Adam, you need to be aware that there are people who are not pleased with the prosperity of our planet. And some are still holding grudge against me, in other words, against our family. So, you need to be cautious and be more aware of the world around you as your successor. Attending the Academy will allow you to grow as a person and expand your horizon."
"I won't let you down, father," I replied.
"Hahaha. Adam, it's not about my feelings, our your mother's. It's about you and what you want to do. The title of Lord is just a title, it's you who decide what to do with it. The things that you can achieve in this life depend only on you. We are only here to guide you."
I could feel the affection of my father behind his words.
'What do I want to do?' I pondered.
I didn't know how I looked but I felt awkward when I replied. "I want to be like you father. I want to conquer the woman I love with my efforts and bring her home." It didn't sound like a big ambition, but this was a particular wish of mine. However, when I said that, I also wanted to imply that I wanted to become a great man like him and not end up like what had become of me in my previous life.
My father was a little bit shocked to hear me voice my ambition but then, "Well said my son. You take after me," he said.
My mother on the other hand said nothing and just looked at me with a smile.
She looked like she had some thoughts about me, but they were proven wrong by my statement so she was relieved.
'What kind of thought she had about me?' I wondered.
Time passed quickly as the three of us continued to chat, and before I knew it, it was already time to perform my speech.
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