Royal Capital, Baron Auguinare's Mansion.
It had been over two weeks since Sara assassinated King Seawallus.
Abium sat inside his room while reading the recent reports that Helena gave him earlier. During the past two weeks, he had continuously purchased necessary items for the upcoming journey and stored them in his space ring.
Furthermore, he also taught the advanced sword techniques to Helena, Kuran, Sara, and Lily and even shared them with some of his unique sword insights.
All of them were growing at a rapid pace.
Especially Helena. Within a few days, she progressed in her warrior path to an incredible level and even linked her mind with the World Tree using the Nature Leaf.
After some study, Abium found out that Nature Magic was an ability of the sentient mind to merge with plants and manipulate them.
Learning and performing Nature Magic would be a long and challenging path, but the results would be spectacular.
But to everyone's shock, Helena had already created her first spell model called 'Nature Touch' in her mind and even cast it!
Although this spell could only allow her to manipulate the nearby vines to some extent, it was still an incredible feat!
'From now on, Helena must study the Nature Leaf and concentrate on expanding the connection between her mind and nature. Once she increased her spirit power through the connection, she could control all the plants in the forest and even cast spells like mages.' That's what Azolla said as she witnessed her rapid progression.
Abium once heard that if the church followers became more faithful to their god, they would rise from apprentice followers to a priest in a matter of days.
'It worked similarly!' He thought.
During the past few days, Abium also noticed that some people were causing trouble in the city.
He also felt that the royal city's atmosphere was becoming tense. Reports of several people going missing during nighttime and rumors of an evil god's appearance in the town caused restlessness among the citizens.
'Are they cult members? Or thieves guild members?' Abium didn't know. But he did know that the Crown Prince would take care of the things from now on.
He also doesn't have to worry about Crown Prince being killed by a random passenger anytime soon.
After all, the Former king Lucius had already announced that the 'Coronation Ceremony' would be held after six months. During these six months, a second-tier mage would be staying in the Royal Palace and guarding the Crown Prince all the time.
Although it dissatisfied some nobles, they would have to bear with that for now.
'If I'm not wrong, the Nobles will form a grand alliance and oppose the royal family only during the Grand Noble Gathering, which would happen a week or a few days before the Coronation Ceremony. So, I can take things slowly from here onwards.' While muttering, he lazily leaned on the wooden chair and looked up at the ceiling.
'It's time for me to go and visit my territory.'
Yesterday, Baron and his disciples had already returned to their territory, leaving Abium, Helena, and others behind in the mansion.
After they left this mansion, Abium felt more restless inside. He knew that keeping Sara inside the Royal capital any longer was a suicidal idea and decided to go today itself.
'All those influential figures had already seen that girl's appearance during the assassination.'
So if the news of her staying in this mansion got out, the royal knights might seize all of them and then put them under trial.
As for her elder sister Lily, she hadn't caused him any problem, and both sisters seemed to be getting along with Helena and others, which made him somewhat happy.
As he was in deep thought, he heard running footsteps from outside.
A second later, a knocking sound came.
"Come in." He said slowly and straightened his back.
The next moment, a ten-year-old girl with green hair opened the door and walked in.
"Helena said,... Ah! I think she told me that she wants something." Camilla paused while averting her eyes.
"Don't lie." Abium rolled his eyes at the fairy and shook his head.
"You forgot what she told her earlier, didn't you? Ha! Let's go." He chuckled before standing up from the wooden chair and walking out of his room. Meanwhile, Camilla slowly shrunk into a small figure and flew after him while flapping her tiny wings.
Once both came out of the mansion, Abium noticed a large luxurious carriage standing at the entrance.
It was a hackney-type carriage with four horses and appeared in reddish-brown.
A symbol of a two-winged sun was carved on both sides of the door, giving a unique beauty to the carriage.
It was Abium's household symbol.
After looking deeply at the carriage, he turned his head to his left side and saw many empty barrels, clothes, tent carpets, mats, and thick bedsheets in the grassy yard.
"I brought everything you mentioned earlier, Abium. But why do you need this many scrolls and chalks?" Helena moved in his direction from the yard, gave a leather bag filled with scrolls and chalks to Abium, and asked.
"You will understand later. Where are those girls?" Abium waved his hand at Helena, stored the bag into his space ring, and asked.
Meanwhile, Helena arrived much closer to Abium and said while pointing her forefinger towards the sink-curtained reddish-brown carriage.
"Both are waiting inside the carriage."
"That's good."
Abium nodded with a smile and shifted his gaze towards the mansion entrance.
At that moment, Camilla finally caught up with Abium, flew towards Helena with a bright smile, and landed on her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Helena gave a light pat on the small figure's head and asked.
"When are we going to leave?"
Just as she asked, a short bearded figure walked out of the mansion while carrying a large leather bag in his hand and shouted.
"Everything is prepared, lass. We are ready to go now."
At that moment, Abium also nodded his head in approval and started walking towards the green yard.
Once he arrived closer to the materials, he bent his waist, touched his space ring, and covered all those materials with his spirit power.
A second later, a suction force appeared out of his ring and pulled all the materials into it.
After storing the materials, he closed his eyes and soon noticed that 20+ cubic meters of space were filled with bags of cereals, weapons, armors, clothes, and many other things.
'All set.'
He then moved towards the carriage and spoke.
"Let's go. Uncle Claude and others are already waiting in the Moondale Town."
Indeed, he got a message from Claude yesterday saying they had already reached the territory of Baron Harry.
Claude also mentioned in the letter that food and rent prices had increased in the Moondale town and urged him to come faster. He also said they could only hold on for another two weeks with the remaining rations in their carriages.
"Okay. Wait a minute; I'll go and pick up my luggage."
Saying so, Helena ran back to the mansion's main building and soon returned with two large bags.
Once she arrived near the carriage, she put them on the carriage top and tied them tightly with a rope.
After that, she turned around and soon noticed Butler James and a few other servants standing outside the mansion's entrance.
She hurriedly moved toward the group and exchanged a few words with them.
At that moment, Abium and Kuran also bid farewell and entered the carriage first.
Afterward, Helena returned to the carriage, opened the carriage door, and stepped inside.
Then, she closed the door and sat comfortably in the backseat.
In the meantime, Abium and Kuran also sat beside her and even covered the curtains not to let anyone see who was inside.
After adjusting her dress, Helena slowly looked at the front seat and smiled at Lily and Sara, who were already seated inside and covered their face with black hoods.
At that moment, a loud voice came from the front.
"Shall we head out, My Lord?" The coachmen asked whether they should leave.
"Yes, let's go." Abium casually gave a command to go.
Clunk.
The carriage started to move.
The carriage didn't stop anywhere as it soon exited the Baron's mansion and directly moved towards the southern gate. As the carriage exited the Nobles' Borough, Helena got bored, moved the silk curtain a little, and peeked outside.
"The capital looks different now. It looks vacant and lonely."
That was what came out of Helena's mouth as she looked outside through the small gap.
"Well, people are anxious and scared, so it's no surprise. They are afraid of what will happen next." Abium said.
"Hm? What will happen next?" Helena got confused by his words and asked in puzzlement.
"Kingdom's nobles have already started raising voices against the royal family in the open. You saw their shouts and disagreement during the Royal Banquet, right?" Abium asked.
At that moment, Kuran suddenly took out an ale bottle from his baggage, opened the cap, and took a large sip.
Then, he slowly turned his gaze towards Abium and asked with a flushed face.
"Are you saying a civil war will break out like in the Keris kingdom?"
Meanwhile, Abium shook his head and corrected him.
"It has already started, Kuran. And to make things worse, no academic mages will interfere in this civil war because of some agreement with the Light Church. Only a few nobles with the nobility title will have the qualification to participate in this civil war."
Upon hearing those words, Helena's eyes widened.
"Wait. Except you, only two more first-tier mages still keep their noble title, right? Does that mean only guys have the right to participate in this civil war?"
Abium nodded at Helena's guess.
"What about the newly appointed royal mages?" Lily also got a little interested in their conversation and asked in puzzlement.
"They will interfere only when the Royal Family members get into trouble. Alas, no nobles would dare to even think of getting near the Royal City during the next six months. So, you guys don't have to worry about a large-scale civil war starting all of a sudden."
"Hmm, but why did you choose to accept the noble title? Your aim is the noble title or the territory?" Helena's azure eyes narrowed.
"Well, both are advantages to a Mage like me. For example, the noble title is for gaining control over the masses, and the territory is for making a strong base for my future."
"Why do you need to gain control over the masses? Aren't you all-powerful now?"
At that moment, Kuran took another sip and answered her question.
"Peoples are the real strength, lass. Mages may have the power to destroy a mountain with a single spell, but peoples have the power to change any large-scale battles. You must gain people's trust to make your territory or kingdom prosperous. Meanwhile, Mages are just like Guardians."
'What is he talking about? I'm planning on making a large-scale army of fifth and sixth-tier warriors to fight against the invasions, though.'
Abium stared at him for a long time before sighing helplessly.