Following his lesson with Stein, Nero ended up intercepted by his maid, Clara, who came to show something to him.

“You have officially joined the household, Young Master. It’s time to show you which benefits you get as a direct member of the family,” said Clara while Nero followed her, passing through several buildings and structures in the central part.

Soon, they ended up standing in front of the big building made of marble. Many people were entering and leaving that building every moment. Hence, Nero just couldn’t hold his curiosity when he saw mages, knights, servants, and even officials here at one spot.

“What is that?” asked Nero, pointing at the building.

“A small treasury, Young Master,” said Clara, anticipating such a question. “The place where anyone serving the family can exchange their merit points for training resources or other materials.”

“Merit points, I already heard about them from you, but never asked what are they,” said Nero, looking at his maid.

“You might not know, but Claus family retainers don’t get coins for their service, at least most of them,” said Clara, noticing Nero’s raised brow. “We get these merit points for our service which we can exchange later for anything in the small treasury or other household structures.”

“I see,” said Nero, quickly realizing the overall situation with this new concept for him. “Then, how many merit points do I have?”

“You have ten thousand merit points, Young Master,” said Clara with a smile.

“Is it a lot or not?” asked Nero, while Clara widened her smile.

“Depending on your purposes, Young Master. You better see the process than hear about them from me,” said Clara, inviting Nero to the small treasury.

Following her invitations, Nero threw a glance at the black marble building before nodding and stepping on the ladder leading to the entrance.

...

..

.

As soon as Nero and Clara entered the treasury, a pair of heavily armed knights near to the doors met them. Following those knights, they entered inside the wide hall with many seats and several counters in front of them. Besides, Nero also noticed corridors leading somewhere and people entering them.

Even though there were many people inside, it was silent. People approached the counters with their goods while women dispelled certain spells after another deal before their next customer came to them.

“Magic?” asked Nero, looking in the counter direction.

“Yes, officials use several sets of spells to protect the product and prolong its lifetime,” said Clara before turning into a certain direction. “Follow me, I will show you around.”

Following her words, Nero spent the next several hours walking across corridors, entering different rooms, and learning a lot of new things.

Thanks to his maid, today, Nero found out where the Claus family kept most of the replaceable objects and products inside one of the dedicated rooms in the small treasury. There were alchemic, magic, war, and craftsmen halls with their products.

Inside the alchemy room, Nero saw many pills, rows of puppets, swords made, using the alchemy, and other things. Inside the magic, there were golems, potions, enchanted items. Inside the war room, Nero saw many stands with swords, spears, armor, and other things. Inside the craftsmen, he saw books, tools, and even notes which allowed him to take lessons from the local craftsmen.

Besides, he also learned about the difference between different things, like a mortal, rare and legendary. There were only these three inside the treasury. Nero saw nothing ancient or primal.

In short, when Nero and Clara returned to the main hall and approached the counter, there were many big boxes of pills in his hands. These pills were just like the ones Gustav gave him in the village. They could help him restore his energy reserves after he ran out of them and could slightly strengthen his veins. In short, it was the most useful thing for him right now. However, there were also several other things, useful for Ethel and Azreya, the dried meat of the apex predator which could help them grow stronger.

“Greetings,” said a woman and smiled when she took those objects from Nero’s hands. After spending several moments on them, the woman raised her glance and looked at Nero. “Five thousand merit points in total.”

When Nero heard her, he exchanged glances with a calm Clara before releasing a sigh, realizing her words about the price. He didn’t expect to lose half of his fortune for Mortal-rated objects. In short, he went a bit overboard when he started shopping. But Nero indeed needed them, especially after getting Stein’s warning. He felt he was running out of time.

“Okay,” said Nero, before turning to Clara. “How can I pay with my merit points?”

“Take the price from the Nero in the unique list,” said Clara while the woman nodded and put her arm on the certain stone, closing her eyes.

“Everything is fine,” said the woman before quickly dispelling all spells on the objects. “See you again.”

As soon as Nero put all his new possessions into his bracelet and he and Clara left the counter, he just couldn’t hold from asking.

“How did she know if I didn’t lie or didn’t have enough merit points?” asked Nero while Clara smiled at his question, watching a clear curiosity on his face.

“Mind magic, one of the directions in magic,” explained Clara.

“Interesting. I wonder when I will learn more about magic,” said Nero as he touched his chin.

“Instructors usually start teaching about it after the twelfth birthday and evaluate children whether they have a talent for it,” said Clara while Nero nodded.

“Can you use it?” asked Nero while they returned to the manor.

“No, I don’t have such a talent, Young Master. My mother had, but I don’t,” said Clara, lowering her head.

“Don’t worry about it, you have a good talent in taming craft,” said Nero to support his maid and distract him from falling deep into her thoughts.

“Thank you,” said Clara, returning and smiling at him.

...

..

.

On the way to his manor, Nero and Clara passed by the sky lizards landing point when suddenly several sky lizards landed there and a familiar, wide person in the heavy armor climbed down, crying. Nero recognized that voice. It was the voice of another person who knew about his mother.

Hence, Nero stopped and turned to Clara.

“You can return. I will stay here for some time,” said Nero, staring at the man who was loudly crying at others.

“Prepare the food and forage. More squads are coming. They are all hungry, so hurry, servants, move your asses. You have already forgotten how it is after maneuvers,” cried the wide man.

Clara noticed the direction where Nero looked and that man before making certain deductions and leaving for the manor.

Following her departure, the whole landing point wallowed into active preparation. Only then, after the result satisfied Grievous and specific mechanisms started moving, when he noticed Nero. After exchanging several words with his adjutants, Grievous slowly approached him.

“Greetings, Young Master, how are you doing?” said Grievous with a smile on his lips.

“I am fine,” said Nero.

“You became stronger. Looks like his training helped you,” said Grievous, widening his smile.

“Yes, instructor Primus is a good teacher,” said Nero while Grievous released a bitter sigh when he heard him.

“That bastard, he was lucky again just like the last time when Lord chose a martial path teacher for your mother. I am always busy at the right time,” said Grievous with a clear bitterness in his voice.

“I thought you were also her teacher,” said Nero with a confused expression on his face.

“I was. But, later, when she started learning tactics and strategy. I am the best commander, serving the family and Lord gave me this task which was much harder, compared to that bastard’s lessons. Your mother was a true troublemaker who never liked my lessons,” said Grievous, releasing another bitter and also nostalgic sigh.

“I see. Then I hope to get an honor to learn from you, instructor Grievous,” said Nero as he made a half-bow while Grievous widened his smile, transforming it into the smirk before patting Nero on his shoulders.

“You can bet on it, Young Master. As soon as you grow up a bit and I get enough free time, I will introduce you to the world where your mind can decide fates,” said Grievous before throwing a glance at the approaching officials in the black uniforms.

Those men quickly approached them and saluted to Grievous with their right fist on their heart area.

“Commander Grievous, Lord awaits you,” said the official.

Grievous nodded before returning his attention to Nero.

“I have to go. See you next time,” said Grievous, patting his shoulders and leaving together with those officials.

...

..

.

Following his brief conversation with Nero, Grievous soon ended up standing inside the Lord’s room. Primus and Stein were already here, listening to his report.

“My Lord, all-sky lizard squads finished their maneuvers and are ready to advance to any location at any moment. All our supply bases and forts are also fully functional, ready for both offense and defense. In short, no enemy will pass through the skies and will get huge troubles, marching through the land,” said Grievous as he finished his report and saluted to Baron Claus.

“Good job. That’s nice to hear,” said Baron Claus, raising from his seat and throwing a glance at the big map of the Claus barony and its neighbors. “What about another intel you got from our spy network?”

“Melor and Helman households’ forces started maneuvers, increasing their overall battle readiness,” said Grievous.

As soon as he said those words, Primus clenched his fists while Stein and Baron Claus exchanged glances.

“Looks like it’s inevitable. The power balance in our region is about to change,” said Baron.

This time Grievous also furrowed his brows, realizing what it meant, and he also clenched his fists.

“My Lord, just give us a direction and we will set ablaze everyone who attempts to aim at us,” said Grievous.

“That’s right, my Lord, our armed forces have long missed a war,” said Primus.

“We are not in the condition of attack. I don’t know how will it happen this time, how many forces will attack us. Who allied with the main culprit? We have only rumors, and that’s it,” said Baron, before turning and looking at Stein. “What do you think about the current situation, Protector?”

“Deadly, my Lord. Even though I don’t know and don’t see who will attack us, but my hutch tells me we are facing a crisis, the one which can decide the future of the Claus household,” said Stein with a totally serious expression on his face.

“Have you talked with the second elder?” asked Baron.

“Yes, he has the same opinion as mine, and long ago polished his sword and prepared armor,” said Stein, nodding at his words.

“I see,” said Baron, nodding. “Then, let’s make preparations for the worst-case scenario when we will get into the war on two or three frontiers. Commanders rearrange our forces and call back most of the personnel outside, leaving only the core of the spy network.”

Both men nodded with solemn expressions while Baron turned at Stein.

“Prepare a puppet legion. You will get as many materials as possible,” said Baron while Stein smiled at his words.

“After so many years, I will once again visit my factory,” said Stein before Baron gave him another command.

“Also, inform the Grand Elder,” said Baron while both commanders widened their eyes.

“A right decision, my Lord. His help won't be excessive. Besides, even if the crisis won't happen, he will at least see his new descendent,” said Stein while certain flames appeared in the eyes of the Primus and Grievous.

Noticing that, Baron released a dissatisfied sigh, pinning them with his glance and forcing them to calm down.

“Now, let’s discuss the areas and key parts of our defense,” said Baron, approaching the map with a stick.

Following his words, everyone inside that room soon wallowed into the long discussions without noticing that it was already night and how white particles started falling to the ground, proclaiming the end of the fall.