Chapter 748 (Patreon)

Xavier P.O.V.

“What do you think he’s going to show us?” my cousin asks, she’s been excited for the entire family to take a trip. 

When Ajax invited the royal family to see something impressive without even giving a hint of what it might be, dad was already carefully optimistic but decided to trust Ajax so he was bringing the entire royal family for the event.

Not only that but we were going to arrive a few days earlier, with me, Anna and Benedict returning from Sylvanthal being the last they were waiting on and all of us were heading towards the Hearthbound duchy. 

“Nobody knows.” I answered, according to the royal spymaster, that was a fact. All anyone knew was that it had something to do with their new city built at the edge of the massive lake between the Empire and Gryndor. “Aurexion’s apparently been flying around and making sure nobody got too close.” 

“Honestly I was expecting him to have gained Space Mana.” my uncle joked as he tried to get a rise out of dad. “After taking that hammer I had assumed it wouldn’t take him all that long.” 

“Good chance he’s working on doing just that but I doubt he already learnt it.” Grandpa joined in, in the months since he passed the throne to father he’s had a lot more time to spend with me and my cousin, not to mention that he’s relaxed attitude took a while for us to get used to. “Even for him, getting a Legendary Mana type would take a while. Not to mention Manashaper would be shouting it from the rooftops if he even had a lead on a chance to gain Space Mana.” 

Anna just smiled as we all could imagine Duke Manashaper and how dedicated he was to his spell research. She gently stroked her bond’s golden fur, a pulse of Mana flashing as it pulled half a cupcake from thin air and started eating. I knew it was Space Mana but my [Sense Mana] couldn’t recognise it. Despite all the effort in my training I still had issues recognising different Mana types, not being able to do so could become a problem for me in the future since my style relied so heavily on predicting my opponent’s next move.

THUNK THUNK 

A small shake was the only sound and suddenly the carriage ride became smoother, with all the amenities the royal carriage had I could barely feel it but I now had enough Perception to feel us picking up speed. We had entered the Hearthbound duchy and we were on their roads.

From there it was only another few hours until we reached Lessis but we didn’t stop in the city. It was already evening so we made directly for House Hearthbound’s estate knowing that would be our accommodation for our stay. 

After so much time in the carriage I couldn’t wait to stretch my legs so once we stopped I was out the door in an instant with everyone else moving after me. Between the royal family, our escort, my friends and the few people their family sent there were easily fifty of us. 

“You made it.” The words didn’t come from the group of people waiting to receive us but instead they came from my left where I could see Ajax and Duke Manashaper approaching from. The sheen of sweat on Ajax’s forehead let me know they had been training, most likely with the hammer my uncle had mentioned on the way here. 

“What my intended means to say is that you honor us with your presence , Your Majesty.” Lexi interrupted Ajax with a polite bow. “And you are welcome to our hospitality.” 

My father answered the bow with a dip of his head but when he turned to Ajax both of the only exchanged a nod. It was Ajax’s prerogative as a pinnacle, he would soon be a king in his own right on equal footing with my father, at least in private in terms of standing. 

“Ajax it’s been far too long.” My uncle instantly made his way towards Ajax and Duke Manashaper eager to question them on their research and training. Anna, Benedict and myself trailing him as we were all interested in hearing about the same topic. “Where is Aurexion?” 

“He’s in the vault.” Ajax answered. “He’s still working on learning to shapeshift.” 

“Has he learned to do anything else besides changing his color?” I asked. 

“He had a breakthrough a few days ago and he can now change his size.” Ajax answered the pride and excitement for his bond’s success easy to hear in his voice. I knew Ajax was a little worried about how well Aurexion would be able to adapt to living in humanoid lands considering he was fully sapient unlike the other bonds but his draconic size made it an issue any time he even approached a city. 

For the next few minutes Ajax bragged about Aurexion’s ability to shrink himself to half his usual size, a real feat that allowed him to move through the halls much easier. One thing Ajax just about glossed over however was that he could also grow a third again as big if he wanted to. Considering that he couldn’t do that and change his color at the same time yet meant it probably took focus so it couldn’t be used in combat but the idea of Aurexion being able to enlarge himself was scary considering how powerful his body already was.

Ajax and his House led all of us inside where a feast was waiting for us. The atmosphere was festive but at the same time there was a tense undercurrent nobody could change. House Hearthbound had just about as good a relationship with the crown as it was possible and while Ajax and Lexi were both fine with the king sitting at their dinner table the rest of his family still had a way to go. 

Ajax’s brother, sister and parents were more a little stiff but nothing compared to his grandparents whose anxiousness could be felt. None of us blamed them until a decade ago they were middle level merchants in the capital and now they were having dinner with the king, not only that but it wasn’t an official dinner but a private one where a lot of the formality was being put to the side. 

“So what is it you wanted to show us?” Anna asked, she tried to slip in the question but we could all tell she was very interested.

“That’s a surprise.” Ajax answered with a smile. “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow at least when you can get a small peek at what you’ll see in a few days.” 

With that the topic of the surprise was left alone but there were plenty of other things to talk about. The integration of the former slaves from the Empire was the main one my father was interested in. 

With the Empire slowly working to release all of their slaves it was expected that the majority of them would go in one of two directions. They would either go and settle new territories as we expanded into the Wild Lands and another large portion of them would move to Gryndor. Moving to Gryndor and escaping the Empire had been a dream for many slaves and was the reason the border was so heavily watched by the Empire despite the good relation between the two countries in recent times. 

Silvia and Tom were more than happy to share their experiences with the integration of former slaves into their duchy. Tom even excused himself for a moment before he brought in reports that examined the issue deeply. They had information on the almost exclusively former slave city that had built itself around the quarry, about the small former slave villages that sprung up around Lessis as well as how the former slaves integrated when they chose to settle in already existing villages and cities.

The discussion covered all the topics but it was only a small overview of the situation, though father did ask that copies of those documents be made. Silvia promised him that copies would be made after any sensitive information regarding House Hearthbound was removed. This was the first time someone other than Ajax straight up refused a request from my father, a good show that the rest of Ajax’s family was settling in as a ducal House. 

Much to my chagrin the next day was mostly spent traveling towards the duchy's newest city. After days in a carriage I could handle one more, what made it harder however was the joyful screams of Ajax’s nephew as well as the two former slaves that Ajax handpicked from the Empire as they traveled in a small box carried by Aurexion. 

My first thoughts upon seeing the city in the distance was how different it was from any other city. The wall didn’t have the usual rock grid but instead it was one smooth surface and for a new city it was much too large. 

“We’re not going to the city?” Father asked as we turned away from the gate. 

“We still have a few hours of sunlight left so you can get a quick show of what we have to show you.” Lexi said as the carriage took a different road and approached the shore of the lake a few miles away from the city and towards the forest.

As we got a little deeper into the woods we saw the entrance to a building that seemed to have been built underground similar to the dwarven style and a few boats on the shore of the lake. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary except perhaps the missing fishing roads on the boats.

“What are those?” my grandfather asked as he pointed towards the lake.