"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Abium hurriedly bowed his head and thanked him.
Meanwhile, King Sewallus tapped on the Golden Throne and continued.
"The next part is about territory selection. Brother Zivior had already mentioned in the letter that you had chosen the Alastall woodland as your territory. Are you sure about your decision, young elf? Even I feel that it is not the right place for commoners to live a peaceful life."
Just as King finished speaking, all the nobles in the Throne Hall started making noises and discussing among themselves.
Alastall woodland was isolated entirely from this kingdom and had many problems, so almost all the Nobles thought of Abium as a foolish kid.
Even Baron Auguinare stood up from his seat and tried to object to Abium's decision, but King waved his hand and stopped him.
In the meantime, Abium took a deep breath and spoke.
"I have already made up my mind, Your Majesty." His tone was firm and resolute.
"Stubborn child, huh?" King Sewallus couldn't help but think of his younger son Raollet.
"I wonder why these youngsters are so stubborn these days. Anyway, I now grant you the Alastall Woodland as your domain. Young elf, I have also exempted the territory's first two years of taxation. As long as you manage to turn that woodland into a utopia, I may even promote your title to a Viscount rank."
Upon hearing the King's words, everyone gasped in shock.
On the other hand, Abium gave another polite bow and spoke.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will make that territory prosperous."
While saying this, he turned around and returned to his seat.
At that moment, some nobles began to frown. It was the first time King showed favorable expression on someone, which caused some dissatisfaction in their hearts.
Abium also sensed malicious gazes from the nobles, but he didn't care much about their feelings.
When the chaos descends, these nobles would be the first to turn their back on the citizens and stab their allies in the back. One of the main reasons for the friction between Nobles and the Royal Family was mainly because of these Nobles' incompetence in governing the territory and their greedy nature.
For this reason, the Royal Family even passed a special law allowing the Academic Mages to own and govern lands. Even though the Mages' children or family members controlled territories, they did not loot the citizens like the ordinary Nobles.
Unfortunately, this mere action by the Royal Family caused the nobles to be even more dissatisfied.
'Well, I don't plan on joining this nobles' game anyway.' He knew what was needed at the end of the day was not political ties with nobles or the Royal Family but pure strength!
He quietly sat next to Baron Auguinare and shifted his gaze towards the front.
At that moment, a silk-robed noble walked forth, bowed his head towards King Sewallus, and gave a file to him. Afterward, he complained to the King about this year's low rainfall rate and requested the Royal Family to provide the citizens with some money under the Crops Insurance Scheme.
After him, many nobles came before the King and reported their problems inside their territory. Some complained about a sudden increase in monsters near the forest areas; others were about heavy drought, tax exemption on crops, soldiers recruitment, and even the problem of slave traders.
Meanwhile, King Sewallus listened to each plea and offered solutions.
"'Cough.' I will pass this slave trade issue on to Duchess Margery. As for the sudden increase of monsters near the forest, recruit as many warriors you want and train them." He said in a weary tone.
"What should we do about Margrave Eliot and Duke Pawelinus, Your Majesty?" A voice came from the crown.
On the other hand, King Sewallus let out another loud cough and spoke.
"This is not the right time to talk about that matter, Baron Nele. We'll talk about them during the Royal Banquet. Is there any more requests?"
"No, Your Majesty." The same voice followed.
After some time, King Sewallus finally ended the discussion and left the Throne Hall.
Meanwhile, Abium, Baron Auguinare, and other nobles quietly walked out of the palace building and moved in different directions.
But instead of leaving the Royal Palace, Baron Auguinare brought Abium to the Royal Administration Building right next to the main building. Over there, Abium saw the kingdom's higher officials, including security commanders, administrative officers, knights, and even tens of apprentice mages seated in many rooms and doing paperwork.
"This is the main administrative building. The people here are carefully chosen to perform all the important works of the kingdom. Their duties include giving identification papers, responding to Nobles' requests, allocating money to each territory, and collecting taxes from all the nobles. Although His Majesty conferred you with the title of Baron and even rewarded you with a territory earlier, you are still a commoner on paper. We should get you a proper identity first." Baron led him to the left side room and talked with an officer about Abium's situation.
Because of his academic badge, the officer did not pressure him and gave him a new identity document.
After that, Abium also got official documents for his territory, title, and unique noble seal.
The seal had a symbol of the Sun with two wings spreading outward!
Once they finished their jobs, Abium and Baron Auguinare left the Administration Building, moved towards the front yard, and soon met with Richard.
Upon seeing their arrival, Richard bowed his head, shifted his gaze towards Abium, and spoke.
"Congratulations, Lord Abium."
"Just call me Abium like usual, Richard." Abium waved his hand, but Baron Auguinare shook his head and spoke.
"You shouldn't allow him or even your friends to talk casually to you in public places, Baron Abium. If you got promoted to Viscount or higher noble rank in the future, I will have to call you Lord Abium instead of lad or kid. It's the way of nobles." He said with a chuckle and stepped into the carriage.
"Yes, Baron Auguinare." Abium corrected himself and nodded.
Then, he stepped closer to the carriage door and was about to place his foot on the steps but suddenly froze. At that moment, his eyes turned eerily white for a second and gave him a warning.
"Something bad is going to happen." He muttered with a frown and shifted his gaze towards Richard.
"Get inside the carriage, Richard. I'll drive."
"What happened?" Baron Auguinare also stuck his head out and asked in puzzlement.
Meanwhile, Abium quietly glanced around and observed the surroundings.
"I've no idea, Baron Auguinare. But I'm sure someone is targeting us." Without waiting for Baron Auguinare to say another word, he moved closer to Richard, grabbed the whip from his hand, and signaled him to get inside.
Then, he hurriedly tied the horses to the carriage and jumped up to the driver's seat. In contrast, Richard entered the carriage and sat next to Baron.
Meanwhile, Abium whipped the horse and started driving the carriage out of the Royal Palace. He soon drove the carriage along the Royal Street and entered the Noble Borough.
But he suddenly pulled the reins and tried to stop the carriage. Simultaneously, two iron bolts flew from the right side building's terrace and almost reached his head!
Before those metallic bolts could pierce his head, a layer of crimson flame appeared out of nowhere and formed a forcefield-like structure.
The next instant, the two bolts got repelled by the [Blazing Shield] spell and fell on different sides.
The Baron opened the door from inside and looked at the front, hurriedly asking, "What happened?".
Meanwhile, Abium quietly dismissed the [Blazing Shield] spell and looked in the direction where the iron bolts came from.
A second later, he saw two black-cloaked figures standing on the terrace of the right-side building and seemed to be holding crossbows in their hands.
Even though they were standing more than 500 meters from the vehicle, Abium saw their faces clearly and soon squinted his eyes.
'Sara Harvey?' He couldn't help but feel surprised inside.
'Do you know her?' Azolla asked in puzzlement.
'Yes, she is an extraordinary thief and also an assassin. But why is she aiming for my head?' A trace of confusion appeared on his face. Although he had only met her twice, her face was still deep in his mind.
'Past grudge?'
'No.'
While he was discussing with Azolla, Lily hurriedly covered her face with the hood, looked at Sara, and asked.
"Did he notice us?"
"I don't think so. But this elf's senses are incredible. "Let's go," Sara said as she covered her head with a black hood, turned around, and started climbing down from the building.
Lily also nodded her head and followed after him.
Abium, on the other hand, told Baron and Richard not to worry and continued driving.
A few minutes later, the carriage reached Baron Auguinare's mansion and soon stopped in front of the three-storied building.
Abium quietly jumped down from the driver's seat, gave the horse reins to Richard, and returned to his room in a hurry.
Although he was startled by the sudden assassination attempt, he didn't think much about it. Even if he hadn't acted earlier, his golden badge would've activated on its own and cast a first-tier defensive spell to protect him!
'It must be one of those nobles,' he thought to himself as he shook his head, walked over to the table, and sat on the nearby chair.
After that, he opened the drawer, took out a quill and an ink bottle, and placed them on the table. Following that, he touched his space ring and took out an empty scroll and a wooden box.
"It's time to send a letter." He muttered solemnly, picked up the wooden quill, and opened the ink bottle.
Then, he dipped the brush into the ink bottle, opened the empty scroll, and started writing a letter to Claude and others.
In that letter, he told them to get their family members from Roseglen City and asked them to move toward Baron Harry's territory.
'I think Viscount and Watson will be staying in the capital for a while after the banquet. It's the perfect time for them to rescue their family members.' He muttered inwardly.
Once Abium wrote the letter, he opened the wooden box, took out the seal matrix, and placed the Noble seal on the corner of the scroll.
After that, he summoned one of the Baron's soldiers and asked him to deliver the letter to Claude.