[Behemoth City – capital of the kingdom]

“Your Majesty, please reconsider!” said Marquis Carlos. “If you announce that to the kingdom, we’ll enter a civil war!”

King Alvis glared at the marquis. “Carlos, are you telling me I should not choose a successor?”

Despite the intimidating gaze of His Majesty, Marquis Carlos did not yield. He knew that if he did not stop the king here, their country would enter a dark age. Even if he was hanged for overstepping his bounds, he had no intention of backing down.

“That’s not what I meant, Your Majesty. Think about it. The three dukes are the reason the empire has not invaded our kingdom yet. If you announce that now, those three will end up killing each other!” roared the marquis. The king’s personal guards started moving at his outburst, but he continued regardless. “Please reconsider, Your Majesty.”

Silence fell in the throne room. King Alvis gazed upon the marquis standing beneath the throne, seeing the pallid face of the old man who had accompanied him through numerous battlefields.

Marquis Carlos was his most trustworthy general and closest friend. The king knew the old man wished nothing but the best for him and the kingdom. Still, King Alvis had resolved himself on this point.

“I will not change my mind,” said the king eventually. He waved a hand and two guards approached Marquis Carlos and grabbed his shoulders.

“What is the meaning of this?!” growled the retired general.

Under the fierce glare of Marquis Carlos, the two guards paused nervously.

“My dear friend, I am sorry.” King Alvis frowned. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Until the declaration ends, I will have to lock you in the dungeon. Rest assured you will not be harmed.”

The guards brought chains and cuffed the retired general. Marquis Carlos did not resist; using force inside the throne room would be too disrespectful to the king. He merely stood there, biting his lip as the cuffs were wrapped around his wrists.

Marquis Carlos and the king locked eyes with each other.

“King Alvis, please.” Marquis Carlos was almost sobbing. For a moment, King Alvis had the urge to unshackle him. “There must be a better way. Please… Please… reconsider.”

King Alvis knew the implications of his decision. Indeed, just like the marquis said, their country might enter a civil war once his announcement spread through the kingdom.

But I’m running out of time.

After a heavy sigh, King Alvis gave the signal to the guards. They took away the bound marquis. Silence returned to the throne room.

***

Two days after the marquis was imprisoned, the citizens of Behemoth City gathered in the Central Plaza. The place was crowded despite the cold winter, with more than thirty thousand people gathered to hear the announcement from the king. Almost a quarter of the population of the capital.

Although King Alvis was deemed incompetent, his citizens loved him. Unlike the tyrant king that preceded him, King Alvis never tormented his people with absurdly high taxes. During his reign, wars had lessened—the current king was a pacifist. The wars that had occurred during his reign were on a far smaller scale, bar the Bloody Thorn Plains incident fifteen years ago.

The Grand Chamberlain, Viscount Lakian, tapped his wooden pole on the ground, making three loud thuds. Everyone’s eyes turned to him. “The embodiment of God Neruz. The heart of the sun. His Majesty, King Alvis Lukas VI has arrived. Show your respect.”

The entire plaza became quiet. The residents knelt on one knee, their heads lowered to the ground. Footsteps were heard.

Accompanied by the royal guards, King Alvis approached the pedestal, overlooking the crowd that had gathered.

“Raise your heads,” said King Alvis.

“Raise your heads!” shouted Viscount Lakian.

Like a wave, the crowd looked up to see the old man standing on the pedestal. Unlike most kings, his finery was not gaudy. His long silk tunic was embroidered with very few golden threads, and his cloak was a plain purple color. If not for the scepter in his hand, it would have been easy to mistake him for a low-ranking noble.

“Today, I have gathered everyone to make an important announcement.” King Alvis’s voice echoed through the plaza with the help of an expensive magic stone.

King Alvis could see that in addition to the commoners, several nobles stood among the crowd. Most were familiar faces.

He remembered his dear friend, Marquis Carlos. The retired general was locked in the dungeon, and once this speech was over, the king would release him. If he had not locked Marquis Carlos away, he would have created a revolt just to stop this announcement. Once that happened, even as king he could not protect his friend from the death penalty. It was something King Alvis wanted to avoid at all costs.

King Alvis could feel the eyes of the audience on him. “Four years from now, I will pass the throne to my successor.”

The plaza blazed into life. Murmurs filled the air. The king’s children were all female. He did not have a single son to inherit the title. Since it was the law that only males were allowed to become ruler of the kingdom, everyone assumed he would try to have a son within the next few years. After all, even old men were capable of impregnating a woman.

Therefore, a question ran through the minds of the citizens and the nobles. Who would be the successor the king spoke of? As far as they knew, the king was without a son.

The king spoke over their murmuring. “As you are aware, all of my children are female. I will be choosing my successor from among the three great families of our kingdom. All of the sons of the three dukes are now candidates for the throne.”

The nobles were stunned to hear this. The common citizens, on the other hand, were ecstatic. They had never heard of anything like this—a king handing over the throne to someone without a blood connection to the royal family.

“I will choose the heir to the throne based on that person’s ability and merit. By that, I mean his capacity to rule his territory,” said King Alvis. “Since problems will surely arise because of this, I forbid the three dukes from waging war against each other. If proven guilty of trying to bypass this decree, the house of the perpetrator will be disqualified from consideration to be the next king.”

King Alvis knew that even with this decree, the three dukes would still clash. But at the very least, he would be able to prevent an all-out war of the three large forces.

I’m running out of time. This kingdom needs a new ruler soon. A great monarch who will lead the people to peace and prosperity.

***

The news of the king’s declaration spread throughout the kingdom and its surrounding countries. In the taverns, citizens held heated discussions about who among the three dukes’ sons would most likely inherit the throne.

In his private room, Lord Drakus silently sipped wine from a bronze goblet. He looked through the window, gazing over his domain. As one of the three dukes of the kingdom and also the head of the Marcus family, he possessed power second only to the king. With a single command, thousands of soldiers would march under his flag.

Lord Drakus sighed deeply. The past few days he had lost sleep. He had never expected this sudden announcement.

“Four years… In four years, the Marcus family will become royalty.”

He had never once doubted this. After all, his son, Lui Marcus, was the kingdom’s hero. Already, at twenty-eight, he had done many great feats and won many wars. Some scholars even claimed that he was the second coming of the War God, Rurukashu. With an unbeaten record, Lui Marcus was the Supreme Commander of the Western Regiment. The great general that kept the empire at bay.

Compared to the sons of Duke Kelvin and Duke Youchester, my son is ahead by leaps and bounds. There’s no way the House of Marcus will lose in the competition for the throne as long as Lui is with us.

Lord Drakus had long accepted that Lui had already surpassed him. If not for this sudden declaration, he had planned to pass on the title of house head to Lui next year.

For now, I will have to postpone giving him the title. It’ll be easier to act if I remain the head of the family. Even if I have to empty the treasury, I will support Lui in his bid to inherit the throne.

As Lord Drakus was deep in his thoughts, there were three knocks on his door and a voice spoke, “Father, it’s me.”

Lord Drakus broke out of his fantasies. He fixed his collar. “Enter.”

The door opened and a handsome man entered the room. His silver hair was characteristic of the Marcus family. Whenever he commanded the soldiers to battle, his long hair would flow with the wind; it had earned him the nickname the Silver War God.

After shutting the door, Lui bowed his head. “You called for me, father?”

Lord Drakus looked at his bowing son approvingly.

As expected. My son is perfect. The competition for the throne is ours to win.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the announcement from the capital.”

“The competition decreed by His Majesty?” said Lui. Although he was still wearing his sword on his waist, Lord Drakus did not mind. He knew Lui’s personality. Even during banquets, his son never took removed his weapon. He would always say that a moment’s carelessness could lead to death. “People have been talking about it so incessantly that my ears have gone numb.”

Seeing the wry smirk of his son, Lord Drakus’s confidence rose. As expected, the competition was no big deal for his genius son. Lui’s expression had hardly changed throughout their conversation.

Lord Drakus grabbed Lui’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “Listen, Lui. As my only son, I will support you with anything, using any means necessary. I will use all the power of the Marcus family to help you ascend the throne.”

Lui’s eyes glimmered. “I understand, father. I’ve already asked Count Nases to gather all the nobles within our faction. They’ll arrive within the next few days. I’ve also mobilized half of the Marcus Army stationed in the Rulfort Mountain Range. They’re currently moving toward the Louan Plains to subjugate the monsters there.”

“Louan Plains?” Lord Drakus frowned. “Monsters?”

“Yes, father. The king said that he’ll judge us based on our ability to govern our people. Therefore, instead of prioritizing guarding the border of Rulfort Mountain, we will do better using the army to subjugate the monsters in Louan. The City of Metesda and the City of Yan are currently separated by the Silen River—but that’s not all. What really separates the two cities are the monsters that follow the river’s route. I’ve sent several men to do reconnaissance in that area and they learned the monsters originated from Louan. If we are able to conquer the monsters in Louan Plains, a trade route between Metesda City and Yan City can open up.”

Lord Drakus was at loss for words. Metesda and Yan were both under the domain of the Marcus family. If this information was true and the army managed to defeat the monsters in Louan, the two cities could prosper once the trading route opened up. Furthermore, the area surrounding Silen River was filled with gemstone mines. With the monsters roaming the area, those mines had never been developed. The kingdom had tried subduing the monsters before, but they kept coming out of the river. It was as though they were birthed by the water.

This was all as Lord Drakus had expected from the Silver War God who defeated even the empire. In just a few days, he had already come up with a plan to win the competition for the throne. He had already come up with a plan to make their domain prosper.

Lord Drakus tried to stop himself from shivering in delight. He could not ask for a more perfect son.

“But, father, there’s one thing that’s wrong,” said Lui.

Lord Drakus paused. “What do you mean, Lui?”

“I am not your only son.”

For a moment, Lord Drakus’s head throbbed. He remembered that boy borne from his concubine. The incompetent boy that, unluckily, had the blood of the Marcus family flowing through his veins. Personally, Lord Drakus felt he had been a kind father for simply exiling the boy to that desolate town.

Lord Drakus narrowed his eyes. He let out a sigh.

“Father, Lark is also your son.” Lui’s expression was grim. “He’s closer to a demon than a human, I’ve got to admit, but he’s still my brother.”

Lord Drakus did not like where the conversation was heading. He knew perfectly well this side of Lui. Although he was a peerless commander, he had a fatal weakness—he loved his family too much. He would kneel in front of anyone just so his useless little brother would be forgiven for his atrocious misdeeds.

If possible, Lord Drakus would like to disown that stupid son of his who carried the family’s name. If Lui had not stopped him months ago, he would have exiled Lark outside the kingdom, never to be seen again.

Now that I think of it, the brat should still be alive, right? Gaston insisted on accompanying him. And I gave him a hefty sum too. But considering that brat’s personality, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s squandered it by now. Ah... Damn it. Just thinking about that one is giving me a headache.

“Father, I suggest that you send several soldiers there,” said Lui.

“To that small town?” Lord Drakus could not see the merit in that.

“Yes. With my rank as the Supreme Commander of the Western Region, it’ll be hard to target me. Therefore, the other two dukes will aim for my little brother.”

Upon hearing this, Lord Drakus’s expression turned grim. He had sent that stupid kid to a faraway place so he could not further damage the reputation of the Marcus family. It seemed even distance was not enough to remove the problem.

I really should have killed that brat. He kept ruining the family’s reputation. Fighting with the other nobles. Harming the citizens of the fief. A year ago, he even almost killed the priest over some petty squabble about religion.

Despite his dark thoughts, Lord Drakus had never implemented such plans. His genius son would have found out sooner or later, and it would deteriorate their relationship. That was something he would like to avoid at all costs.

Lord Drakus sighed. “Tell me, what would the two dukes get by targeting Lark?”

Even if the dukes harmed that son of his, it did not matter to Lord Drakus. After all, he was nothing but baggage. He could not see how it would affect him in any way.

Lui clenched his teeth and stared at Lord Drakus. “By targeting my brother, they would be indirectly targeting me. Father, if they harmed my little brother, I would slaughter the two dukes and their entire armies, regardless of the royal decree.” Lui’s expression was predatory. “I promise you that.”