Chapter 712 (Patreon)

Ajax didn’t care all that much about being present at court, what he did care about was the chance to catch up with Anna Xavier and Benedict. It had been a long time since they had all been together and last time Ajax had to play host to a whole lot of important visitors.

“You can all talk to Aurexion once we leave.” Ajax reassured them. 

In front of so many different nobles and during open court activating a privacy barrier wasn’t an option and since most of his friends had yet to meet his bond they were all naturally curious about the dragon. 

“What was the war like?” Anna asked. 

Out of all of them, despite Benedict being the one most suited to being a general, Anna was the only one who actually had some real experience in actually doing anything similar. With the father the Archduke setting her up to take over his position relatively soon he had already started letting her take actual charge of business dealings on a larger scale and her decisions had real consequences for people she later had to live with. 

“Fast.” Ajax’s answer surprised them. “Though I have a feeling it was different for me than for everyone else.”

Ajax wasn’t wrong. Hurry up and wait could describe a lot of what a soldier was doing during the war, even champions during most downtime and at the start of most battles. Ajax’s experience was different, his and Aurexion’s presence was not only hard to hide but once they got somewhere everything always changed. The use of his Pseudo-Mythic Skill also quickly put things on a time that meant the fighting would be over in under a minute. 

The conversation had attracted a few listeners from the nobles nearby  but none of them joined the discussion. 

“What have you been doing in the meantime?” Ajax asked. 

“We’ve been getting ready for a possible new tournament.” Xavier said. While the fight for the dungeon wasn’t being advertised all nobles were aware that conflicts over resources found in the Wild Lands during expansion were bound to cause a few conflicts. “With our delving and recent leveling we might have a chance to fight in the under fifty year old category.” 

Left unsaid was their Legendary Skills, Ajax was able to pick up on it from Benedicts disappointed look but the nobles near them wouldn’t have guessed that Anna, Lexi and Xavier all had Legendary Skills. 

“Benedict have you made a decision on Chanting or Runic casting?” Ajax asked, having an idea of how to help his friend. 

“I won’t really be investing my points in my Mental Stats.” Benedict said. “Though for now it seems Chanting is a better choice for me.” 

Left unsaid was that neither seemed like a good fit for him. Benedict had tried both and while his fighting style would work better with runes as it wouldn’t slow him down the rigidity of the spells meant he would rather add a few chanted spells here and there. 

“There’s a third option.” Ajax said. 

“I don’t have the Mana to use your casting style Ajax.” Benedicts denied it. “The delving may have given me enough Stats that adding a few casts is optimal for me but doing it like you would either mean my spells do nothing or I am tapped out of Mana after two casts.” 

“Maybe before,” Ajax acknowledged his friend’s point. “But Aurexion helped me learn of a way to get more power behind my spells, there is a Skill for how I cast as well just like [Chanting] and [Runic Casting], though my main downside still remains.” 

That topic of conversation drew a lot more attention from the nobles nearby. Most of them thought that the main weakness of Ajax’s style was the power of his spells but that was only when applied to Ajax himself. For others the main issue was that casting like him required one to have the Mana affinity in the first place to even try. 

“You’d be willing to share that?” Benedict asked, genuinely surprised. He knew how important such Skills were. 

“Sure.” Ajax nodded. “Aurexion’ll just take a look through your family’s pile of unidentified stuff and grab something he likes.” 

The offhanded comment almost had a few nobles that were close to House Steelblade chastise Ajax regardless of his personal power, at least until they though closer about what he said. The casual way he said Aurexion would look in House Steelblade’s vault would be an insult but mentioning he would be looking through the unidentified items changed that. A lot of old noble Houses would love for the dragon to take a look at all the odd stuff they had in their vaults that they had no idea what it was other than that it was somewhat valuable. Even that was due to certain Skills. 

Noticing the attention they were drawing the group dropped the important topics for the moment, it wasn’t long until Lexi joined them and the conversation turned to planning out a few meeting times for them in the coming few months now that Ajax was back but still had a duchy to lead. 

“Thank you all for coming.” Xandor said as he stood, marking the end of court for the day. “I welcome you all to attend court tomorrow as my father has an announcement to make.” 

Speculations were flying even as the room was emptying out. It clearly had to be something important since the king was announcing it himself, as of late he had been having Xandor handle most things to get him used to being king, the last time the king made an announcement was when Gryndor was sending reinforcements to the Republic. 

“Do you know what that’s all about?” Ajax asked Xavier once they were out of the large throne room and deeper into the royal palace.

“Yeah, grandfather is officially stepping down as king.” Xavier said once he made sure they were past the point where anyone who wasn’t supposed to could overhear them. “With a timeline on the war restarting he knows dad has to take over but he wants him to have a few years of peace as king so now is the perfect time.” 

That surprised Ajax. Unlike the rest of them he wasn’t raised to think in century long timelines, sure he had been picking it up a lot thanks to the bond with Aurexion helping him adjust but the king easily would live at least another eighty years, more than likely another century that was a long time to have left while stepping down. 

“Did you see any stand outs among the elites?” Lexi asked Ajax.

Another reason for the king to step down now was that with the change in rulers a large change would follow for the ten squads. Most of the members for the new squads would be selected mainly from the elite forces that were returning as they were the ones powerful enough while also being young enough to approach champion level during Xandor’s reign.

“I only got to watch them fight one time.” Ajax said. “Nobody specifically stood out to me.” But he did realize that having the prince attached to the elites for the entire duration of the war meant that he already passed a list of potential hopefuls to his brother and father.”

“What plans do you have for your duchy, Ajax?” Xavier asked, hoping to move the conversation away from the future squads. Discussing topics like that before a final decision was made with future Dukes and Archdukes was how spies infiltrated the crown. 

“Still a bit early for the schools to have shown results but I think we can start looking at what the trend is and refine the lesson plans.” Ajax answered. “Then there are the Skills I have to train as well as some delves into our dungeon I will be leading. Two big things will be my main focus however.” 

“Two?” Lexi was surprised since she knew Ajax was interested in the new city whose foundation had just been laid but wasn’t sure about the second.

“Yeah, the new city is the obvious one but that is more of a short term goal for me.” Ajax admitted. “Once the course is set I doubt it’ll need my attention to grow, it will keep me busy for the next few years however. The other big thing is finding the perfect spot to make Aurexion’s lair.” 

“Won’t he be living with you at the estate?” Anna asked. 

“For now, yes.” Ajax nodded. “But Aurexion is still growing and he doesn’t properly fit inside most of the rooms of the house. He needs a lair of his own.” 

Lexi was reminded of the other reason for setting up Aurexion’s lair. With the saplings Ajax had taken from the tree of the Mana infused lake near Lessis they could over time infuse Mana into deposits of metal or stone using Aurexion’s need for denser Mana as a cover. It would be centuries before the infusion would show good results but with their Vitality at such an early age it was almost guaranteed they would live for at least one thousand years.

“Isn’t he learning to shapeshift?” Xavier asked, he had met Aurexion already and had been there when the dragon announced his pursuits.

“He will be and that will make it easier for him to stay at the estate.” Ajax nodded. “But what kind of dragon would he be if he didn’t have his own lair?” 

The group was exiting into the inner courtyard of the palace as Ajax spoke where Aurexion was waiting for them. 

“Of course I need my own lair.” Aurexion agreed with his bond as he closed in and towered over the group, Anna’s and Benedict’s eyes going wide with awe and a trickle of fear as they took in the dragon. Aurexion ignored their stares and looked towards Lexi. “Have you found a good spot for me?”