Chapter 710 (Patreon)

Unlike the main army it was a lot harder to track the champions, even with as large as Aurexion was he was up high enough in the sky that seeing him wasn’t feasible, add in a little Light magic from Ajax and the group of champions as well as the survivors of the squads that had left with them returned to Gryndor’s capital with little fanfare. 

Seeing as all the champions that left were working for the crown the only people aware and awaiting their arrival were the royal family as well as Lexi and her grandfather who were at the royal palace when they arrived. 

“I’ve missed you.” The first to greet the returning champions was Lexi who wrapped Ajax up in a hug, her grip tightening as much as her Strength stat would let her in an attempt to convey her worry about some of the dangerous things he had done during his time away. 

“I’ve missed you too.” Ajax returned her hug and gave her a kiss before the two separated. Following their separation Ajax turned towards the king and crown prince and gave both of them a nod. “Your Majesty, Your Highness.” 

“No need for all that formality Ajax.” The oldest prince scoffed as he patted his brother on the back. 

“The formality is very much appreciated.” the crown prince corrected as he frowned at his older brother’s antics. “But not really necessary in such a private setting.” 

“Heard you put on a bigger show than Starfury.” Duke Manashaper was very impressed with his soon to be grandson-in-law, he knew he would make a splash especially with his bond but Ajax had still outstripped all of his expectations by a lot. “If he’s as big a menace as I remember, that's quite the feat.” 

It was easy to forget with how research focused the Duke was but he had fought his fair share of battles and with Aranor being a century or so older than him he had faced the elven mage in his prime.

“The old man’s starting to show his age.” The eldest prince scoffed. “Of course with you mage types that mostly means your patience has mostly run out and you let loose with larger spells.” 

The comment was mostly a joke but it also served as a delicate way to inform them that Aranor was short on time, with elves only showing their age right as they were about to die. Aranor had been old for years now, a testament to how much his lifespan had been expanded but it wouldn’t be long now until he would pass on.

Their reception lasted another half an hour as the king and the rest of the royal family gave the recognition the other champions and squads had earned, promising them their rewards as well as showing their respect and remorse for the two members of the squads that had died. In the end however the king dismissed them as they clearly were eager for some time off after a few months at war.

“I’m sure you are eager to return to your duchy as well, but could we convince you to attend court for a few days before you depart?” The crown prince asked Ajax. With the big showing Ajax and Aurexion had made in the war the news was only now making it to most of the noble houses so a show of Ajax actually supporting the crown would help cement their rule in this expansion period they were all sure was coming. 

“There’s no need for them to do something so boring as court.” The eldest prince protested. “They just got done with the politics during that little peace talk, don’t want you to level those social Skills too fast now.” 

The ribbing from the prince was clearly a nod to how well Ajax and Aurexion had played their part in the peace talks and a clear path for them to turn down the request if they wanted. 

“Now…” The crown prince was starting to get exasperated with his brother’s antics despite him not being back for longer than an hour and the rest of the royal family was doing their best to suppress their amusement at the brothers butting heads. 

“You just want us to forget the armor is in your spacial storage and leave without it.” Aurexion accusation was clearly a joke from the tone of the comment but the small hint of truth still hit its mark as the prince started to fidget with his spacial storage. 

“But… I thought… you said…” The prince stuttered a little. 

“That must be a nice set or armor to have my son so tongue tied.” The king laughed but his eyes bulged as the prince removed the set of armor from the storage ring.

The prince had obviously informed them of the set they had extracted from the dungeon but he hadn’t mentioned what was so special about it. Many armor sets from such floors became national heirlooms given to champions but a blank canvas that could be engraved with runes that best matched the user was not what they expected, let alone the thickness of the armor that basically guaranteed their crafters would be able to preserve some of the metal and would be able to reforge the armor in future generations to match the needs of different rune mages.

“That armor should be enough to settle the issue of our taxes.” Lexi mentioned as she noticed look of awe her own grandfather had as he looked at the piece.

“I thought we were exempt from taxes while we got our duchy sorted.” Ajax whispered to her. 

“We are but the rest of the nobles are starting to fuss about it.” Lexi pointed out, at the level they were at laws were more fluid and while Ajax and the rest of House Hearthbound had the power and political capital to ignore the complaints of the other nobles she already knew that Ajax had allocated that armor to the crown prince from the update letters he had sent back. “We can make a show of giving it during court tomorrow.” 

“Why are the other houses complaining?” Ajax asked, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lexi’s read on the situation but he was genuinely confused as to why there would be a reason to complain. 

“Judy has done a very good job selling the lesser pieces of Aurexion’s horde at an enormous markup.” Ajax could feel the dragon was extremely pleased by the news through their bond. “That on top of our continued refusal to sell the cement to others outside the royal family is making them think we want to hoard all the crafters.” 

“How would that…” Ajax cut himself off as he realized how the pieces fit together. “His family had already started the building the road infrastructure for their duchy, which is why they weren’t selling cement to the others just yet. They had swept up a lot of crafters when opening their schools and they essential had a monopoly on getting items out of the dungeon with Ajax not helping others get the boon. 

None of it had been intentional or even targeted but it was an easy case to make. In fact Ajax had been hoping that by sending the crafters out in the world once they learnt enough from his schools would boost the friendly relations between his duchy and the rest of the nobles since too much competition would obviously devalue their work and lead to unhappy crafters.

“That sounds like a great idea.” the eldest prince jumped at the chance to lock in his precious future armor set. 

“It does make for a nice solution.” The king acknowledged. “But I do have to say that I am interested in what you are planning to do now that you have returned. I know you had a plan when you came from the Wild Lands but participating in a war has a way of changing priorities.”

“The next few months will see me getting used to the Skills I gained during the war while also setting the course for the future of the duchy.” Ajax answered. He knew he wouldn’t be the person actually leading those changes but he was the one who pointed the direction and then the rest of his family would lead the way.

“Speaking of Skills gained during the war I have to say I am very much interested in Pseudo-Mythic Skills.” Duke Manashaper stroked his beard as he looked towards Ajax, the rest of the royal family doing the same.

“Won’t do you much good.” The eldest prince said with a defeated sigh. “You need five Legendary Skills to get one. Apparently getting one after you have five that work together isn’t hard but I don’t haven’t heard of anyone with more than three before Ajax, and that was a pinnacle.” 

“A real shame too.” Aurexion said. “Your Legendary survival Skill would make for a great component to a first Pseudo-Mythic Skill. The ability to ensure you won’t kill youself with your first one is not to be underestimated.” 

“Hmmm, perhaps I should visit my darling granddaughter to ensure the Empire doesn't try anything.” Duke Manashaper said, though it was obvious the reason for his visit would be to try and gain information from Aurexion. 

“What are your plans, Aurexion while Ajax plays with his Skills?” the prince asked, he was very much interested in the possibility of delving with Aurexion, it was the first chance in centuries for him to actually push to a new floor and maybe even gain a few extra floor clear stats.

“I’ll be working on my shapeshifting.” Aurexion’s proclamation surprised the entire room. 

“You will?” Ajax was the first to ask since he knew how Aurexion felt about the squishy human form. 

“I’ll have to if I want to use that hammer to learn Space Mana.” Aurexion said. “You don’t think us dragons use tools in our draconic forms do you? My aunt made that gauntlet for you in humanoid form.” 

From there the discussion went off on a tangent about how most Ascended races that tried to dabble in crafting and the use of tools, like the fae, did so by shapeshifting into a humanoid shape. Humanoids were more fragile than most other beings in terms of their body but they were also uniquely suited for tool use and crafting.”