The Royal Capital, Dewsummit City.
It's been a whole week since Sara assassinated King Seawallus. Yesterday was the funeral ceremony's final day, so the entire city was still drowning in sadness.
In Baron Auguinare's mansion, Abium sat in his guest room and gazed at the white paper sheet containing information about his territory. Earlier, he headed to the adventurer's guild and asked for information about all the pirates, bandits, and even the thieves roaming in the Alastall woodland. Within a day, guild officials provided him with a detailed report, giving him a big surprise.
'It's all because of the Noble title. I have already sent a letter to the captain of Drake Pirates and have begun my scheme. All I have to do now is go to the Alastall woodland and crush the other pirates quietly.' He smiled lightly.
'In truth, the pirates will try to gather in numbers and kill me before I enter the Alastall woodland. But they are not a problem. My real problem is the Necromancer. In the past, I learned that a first-tier necromancer stayed in the broken Magic tower and even caused trouble for Duke Pawelinus. Although the Duke managed to kill him without difficulty, I don't have enough manpower like that Duke.' Abium knew it would be almost impossible to kill a necromancer without any preparations.
That's why he sent a letter to the Drake pirates and asked for their help to eliminate the Necromancer first.
In the letter, Abium mentioned that he would reward 10,000 white gold coins to the Drake Pirates for the Necromancer's head and even agreed to give them a place to live in his territory.
'Well, that won't happen anyway.' Abium also knew that the Captain of Drake pirates Brink wouldn't act alone.
'He will ask his partner, the Black Skull Pirates, to help them kill the Necromancer when attacking the Magic tower.' Abium's lips curved up. That was what he wanted.
He had to find a way to reduce the number of skeletons in the Necromancer's possession and also lessen the pirate numbers. By sending this simple letter, he would kill two birds with one stone.
If the pirates managed to weaken the Necromancer's skeletons, he would have an easy time finishing that Necromancer off. Somehow, if the Pirates managed to kill the Necromancer, they would still be in a weakened state. So, he didn't need much force to finish the remaining ones.
In truth, pirates had no idea how strong a first-tier necromancer was and would be risking their lives. Unlike apprentice Mages, Official Mages and Official Necromancers were the real deal.
Even Abium had no confidence in killing another Official Mage or a Necromancer.
'But I won't let a single thief or pirate loose on my territory.' A cold glint appeared in his amber eyes.
During the past few days, Abium also requested Butler James to keep both girls from others' eyes and even made many preparations for the upcoming journey.
'I already brought tons of rice, wheat, and other food grains. But there is still much to do before I go to my territory.'
In addition to all these things, he had to be more cautious with the spies. Otherwise, all the kingdom's elite soldiers would come after his head.
'Both stayed inside their room during the past few days and solely focused on improving their strength. But the Royal Knights are searching everywhere and conducting raids in Nobles' houses in the name of investigation.' He took a deep breath and slowly shifted his gaze to the window. The sunlight peeked into his room through the small window and fell on his face.
It's already around 9 A.M.
Abium then leaned his back on the ladderback wooden chair and fell into deep thoughts.
'Should I visit Teacher Zivior?' After some time, he thought to himself.
He nodded inwardly before standing up from the chair and changing his cloth into formal attire. Afterward, he walked out of his room, stepped into the long corridor before moving downstairs, and entered the main hall. Then, Abium informed Butler James about his departure to the magic tower and walked out of the Baron's mansion.
Then, he moved towards the carriage house and asked the driver to prepare his carriage.
Several minutes later, a carriage adorned with a redbird symbol emerged from Baron Auguinare's mansion villa and moved towards Commoners Borough's main road.
It was a stagecoach-type carriage, a heavy vehicle, pulled by six horses and provided seating for six passengers on the inside.
As the carriage moved on the dirt road, Abium lifted the silk curtain and looked at the city through the gap.
His destination was the northern tower, where his mentor Zivior was staying.
The streets looked empty, and the whole city was still drowning in sadness.
'It's just the beginning of the Chaos era.' Abium muttered under his breath and shook his head.
After 30 minutes of travel, the carriage finally entered the white street and arrived in front of the northern tower.
Abium told the coachman to return to the Baron's mansion and stepped inside the tower's main hall. Then, he climbed the staircase to the third level and began walking toward the only room. After a few seconds of walking, he arrived in front of the wooden door filled with complicated runic engravings and knocked on it twice.
The rune circles shone brightly and made a clicking sound a second later.
"Come in." Abium soon heard his teacher Zivior's deep voice from inside and smiled.
Without hesitation, he raised his hand, pushed the wooden door, and opened it.
Inside, he saw a middle-aged man, who was around 40 years old, sitting on the wooden chair, and appeared to be gazing in his direction.
"What happened?" Zivior asked.
Meanwhile, Abium gave him a respectful bow and greeted him first. After that, he took a deep breath and spoke.
"I would like to take some leave to visit my territory, Teacher."
"You want to build a city in Alastall Woodland, right? It is not a simple thing, kid." Zivior seemed to have seen through his thoughts and said calmly.
Abium agreed with a nod.
"Hmm, are you planning to build a large city?" Zivior asked.
Hearing his teacher's question, Abium nodded again.
"I can see the ambition in your eyes, kid. You want an independent territory, right? I will not get involved in those political issues."
He paused to see the change in Abium's face and then continued solemnly.
"But the nobles will not stay idle in the future. Also, please protect the Crown Prince if a civil war breaks out." Abium's black pupil dilated when he heard those words from his teacher.
Seeing Abium's reaction, Zivior couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Haha, do you think we mages are so ignorant about the kingdom's political issues?" Teacher Zivior asked with a wide grin.
"Teacher, you knew about everything that happened in Bare Keep town?" He suddenly paused for a moment as he thought of a possibility and soon blurted out.
"You also know what these nobles are scheming behind the Royal Family, don't you? If so, why aren't you taking any action against these rebellious nobles?" Abium asked in confusion.
Meanwhile, Zivior widened his eyes a little and soon shook his head.
"We are not omniscient beings like those gods, lad. We knew a wolf was luring among the nobles long ago. "But we did not expect that wolf would be a light church itself," Zivior explained.
"But you can take action now, right?" Abium got more confused by Zivior's words and asked.
"I will tell you something, Abium. If we fight against the Light Church, the whole kingdom might vanish in a single day. As for that bullsh*t United Council, the Pontiff Philip himself is the leader of that council, and no one has the courage even to oppose him." Zivior smiled bitterly and sighed deeply.
"So, we have no choice but to let this slide on."
Abium also nodded his head in understanding. Except for the two empires in the north, no one would dare to go against that southern Holy See's Pontiff.
Abium also knew of this very well.
"Well, headmaster Alius already reached an agreement with the Light Church. As long as Academic Mages didn't interfere in the civil war, they would only send priests to participate on Eliot's side and promised not to involve the Holy Knights in direct battle." Zivior said solemnly.
"What about that holy maiden?" Although Abium had gotten stronger now, he knew facing the Holy Maiden was a different matter. If things get messier, she could use a divine spell and turn the tide of the battle in one go.
"You don't have to worry about the Light Church for now. They are fully concentrating on something else. Use this time properly and build your territory." Zivior said as he saw the concerned look on his face.
"Yes, Teacher." Abium nodded.
'I'm not worrying about those Light church members. My only worry is the Grand Nobles' gathering. I need to find a way and help the Crown Prince.' Abium thought to himself.
In truth, he was eagerly waiting for the seals to break sooner. Only then would he be able to act against the Light Church members without fear of God's retribution.
While in deep thoughts, Zivior suddenly thought of something, looked into his amber eyes, and asked.
"I forgot to give you any reward earlier. So, what do you want?"