10 days after the academy’s crisis ended...
The world had slowly begun to settle after the chaos that had shaken the entire continent.
Rumors of the battle against the demon lord and the academy’s success in repelling the demons had spread through every empire and city.
People whispered about divine knights descending from the heavens, while many debated the implications of such an event.
Yet beneath the surface of this temporary calm, tensions were quietly rising across Aris.
Riverdale Empire, Imperial Palace...
Inside one of the chambers of the palace that overlooked the sprawling capital below, two men casually sat across from each other like old friends.
"So the eternal sovereign told you to stop your attack, and you decided to comply?" Klaus’s voice rang through Aurelius’s chambers while his face showed squinted eyes that refused to believe what he was hearing.
The chamber was filled with towering bookshelves, military maps pinned across the walls, and stacks of documents scattered across the large desk where Aurelius had been working tirelessly for the past several days.
"That’s not the full picture; he informed me that my plan was leaked by someone to the cult and that they were now laying a trap for my army. The eternal sovereign warned me and asked me to clear out traitors living under my own nose before going for the ones outside the empire," Aurelius said.
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the map spread across the table. She had been trying to come up with a solution to draw the cultists out of their base and kill them instead of rushing inside and walking into the trap that had been laid for them.
Aurelius had no idea what the cults had prepared, but he did not want to test the Eternal Sovereign’s claims and risk losing his men and reputation.
Klaus’s eyes narrowed.
The normally carefree warrior leaned slightly forward, his sharp gaze studying Aurelius as if trying to determine whether the emperor had lost his mind.
"And you just believed him??"
"I intend to clear my record as an emperor, not ruin it even more than it already has by risking lives of my men, if there is even a fraction of truth to eternal sovreign’s claim then it’s worth waiting my plan out, after all the whole point of striking so fast was to take them offgaurd, since that objective is out of question i will have to think of something else" Aurelius sighed and replied while loosening his posture a bit.
The exhaustion in his voice was difficult to hide.
For days, he had barely slept, juggling political pressure, public outrage, and the growing threat of the cults in public perception.
"That’s so unlike you!! Where is your temper, dude?" Klaus complained as he looked at the lifeless Aurelius in front of him.
He gestured dramatically with his hands, clearly frustrated with the emperor’s uncharacteristically calm behavior.
"Klaus!! Are you here to help or bicker??" Aurelius asked, tired of Klaus’s shenanigans.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress the growing headache forming behind his temples.
"Tsk, again, where is the aggression???" Klaus spat.
He leaned back against a nearby table, crossing his arms with a dissatisfied expression.
"How will you burn those cultist bastards if you can’t even be decisive?"
Aurelius looked at him.
His expression remained composed, but there was a faint flicker of irritation in his eyes.
"You were the first person on Aris to believe in Eternal Sovereign, and it turns out he was right in your case, so just shut up when I am doing the same."
Klaus made an annoyed expression when he saw that Aurelius had a genuine point.
His lips twisted slightly as if he had just been forced to swallow a bitter pill.
He was really the first person to believe in Eternal Sovereign.
"Tsk, I guess you are right," he said while folding his arms before giving him a look.
"You know, if you had been more aware of the kidnappings, you at least could have avoided all the hate you are getting from the public, which is mainly pointed at your ignorance," Klaus said.
Aurelius gritted his teeth.
The mention of the kidnappings immediately darkened his expression.
"Tsk, the minister of law enforcement was either really dumb or maybe he was just a part of Daniel’s faction from the start."
The words came out colder than before. Behind the emperor’s calm demeanor, frustration simmered quietly.
Klaus looked at Aurelius.
"I would have had him executed till now."
Aurelius heard Klaus’s careless comment.
"I can, but if I do it, then Daniel will just get another reason to get people against me; he would declare me a tyrant."
The political situation inside the empire was already fragile. Every decision Aurelius made was being scrutinized by nobles, ministers, and the public alike.
Klaus just sighed.
"If only your father were still alive!" he said before looking at the ceiling of the chamber.
"Well, he still left a great lesson for me."
"What lesson??" Aurelius left what he was doing and looked at Klaus.
"You know, having only one kid and self-control," Klaus replied, making Aurilius’s face twitch; he just decided to ignore Klaus’s mocking comments.
The corner of Klaus’s lips curled upward in amusement.
Suddenly, the door to his study was knocked on. Aurelius looked at the butler who had just arrived.
The elderly man stood respectfully at the doorway, dressed in the traditional uniform of the imperial household.
"My lord, you have visitors," the butler bowed in front of Aurelius and spoke.
Aurelius gave a look at Klaus and then nodded.
"Send them here."
A few minutes passed, and two figures entered the room. The heavy wooden doors opened slowly, revealing two familiar silhouettes.
Both Klaus and Aurelius stood up.
"Miss Andrea!!" both exclaimed at the same time.
Andrea, with Kevin behind her, entered Aurelius’s chambers.
Her presence immediately changed the atmosphere of the room.
Even without releasing any aura, the authority surrounding her as the principal of the academy and formerly an Astral Warden was impossible to ignore.
Klaus froze.
For a brief moment, the usually fearless warrior looked like a child caught misbehaving.
"I will take my leave," he said before bowing at her.
Andrea nodded with a smile, and in an instant, Klaus’s figure disappeared. He was embarrassed about the way he had been sitting earlier when these two had just entered the room.
Aurelius offered them a seat and sat across from them with a straight posture.
Despite being the ruler of an empire, he still felt a certain level of respect and caution toward someone like Andrea.
"I hope the academy is recovering well from the battle it has gone through; Riverdale is ready to provide any assistance to the academy," Aurelius spoke, albeit a bit nervously, at the sudden arrival of Principal Andrea.
The battle that had ended ten days ago had shaken the entire continent. Helping the academy rebuild would also help stabilize public perception and establish a good relationship with them.
"I thank you for your kind words, but we are not here for your assistance, Aurelius," Andrea spoke directly to the point.
"We are here to provide our assistance."
Aurelius’s brow furrowed. The unexpected statement caught him completely off guard.
"Sorry, but may I ask what you mean by that?" he asked, puzzled by Andrea’s words.
"I mean to say that we are here to assist you in attacking the Clayman cult’s base," Andrea said.
"What?? Why?" Aurelius stood up in shock.
The chair behind him scraped slightly against the marble floor.
"Who even told you about that??" he asked.
The information had been truly limited only to the dukes; if one of them told the academy, it raised questions about their loyalty.
Aurelius was shocked to his core that the information had traveled so fast.
But before he could make any further assumptions, Andrea cut him off.
"We were informed by the eternal sovereign; he wants us to get involved in this," Andrea spoke.
Aurilues felt another wave of shock pass through him.
"May I ask why you are complying with the eternal sovereign? I don’t think you owe him anything."
He had to ask this.
"It’s none of your business, Aurelius; we have an understanding between us, and that’s all you need to know for now," Andrea spoke without hiding her intentions.
Her gaze remained steady.
There was no room for negotiation in her tone.
"Anyways, when are you going to attack?" she asked straightforwardly.
Aurelius looked at both Kevin and Andrea.
The eternal sovereign had made these two people move and gotten them involved in his plan. Aurelius couldn’t understand why the eternal sovereign was helping him so much. He wanted to understand his intentions.
Andrea, as if reading Aurelius’s thoughts, spoke lightly.
"It will be good if you focus on things that are in your hands and leave the rest to fate; trust me, that’s the way forward," she said with a smile.