Nero’s perception of Luna was not bad. In fact, he quite admired the strength of her resolve. He also could not help but think of her as a cute little girl, trying to show off, every time she bragged about how strong her innate ability was.
"Is her innate ability really so impressive?" Nero could not help but ask. How come no one tried to get him as a son-in-law? His innate ability was pretty strong too. What kind of gender bias was this?
"I do not know the specific details, although I think everyone has, in general, been told to build a good relationship with her. What I know is that it’s related to ice, and that it’s devastatingly strong. She’s already been labeled as a strategic resource to be specifically nurtured."
Nero nodded, but did not think too much about it. It was only good if she was strong - he had no ulterior motives.
"Forget about Luna and Vilhelm for a moment," Nero said seriously. "Gabriel, how you want to deal with your family is up to you. But just remember this - your own strength is the most reliable thing. All schemes, all plans, all plots will fail if you are strong enough.
"People can be deterred by the influence of the Great families, but as long as I am valued by the army, the influence of the Great family’s is irrelevant. Many people have tried to deter my progress, but my contributions have made it impossible for them to succeed. The same can be true for you. For now, you can play along with your family’s whims, but as long as you’re weak, they will control your life no matter how much you play in the shadows."
Nero was not nearly as open and friendly as he used to be with Gabriel, because once doubt had taken root, it was difficult to remove. Whether Gabriel was pretending to be his ally, or he was genuinely interested in maintaining their relationship against his family’s wishes, it did not matter. As long as Nero could control their relationship, it would still be manageable.
However, the moment he felt like Gabriel might benefit more from turning against him, Nero would raise his guard. Although Nero and Gabriel had sworn an oath to keep the matter of the hidden vault secret, who knew if there were ways to circumvent those oaths in the Great families?
Moreover, their relationship from the start had been one of mutual benefits. Sure, there was some element of friendship involved, but in truth they both were making use of each other. So, as long as Nero was useful to him, he could be sure that their relationship was secure. The moment his utility decreased, he would be vulnerable.
In truth, Gabriel could be genuinely loyal, but Nero had no way of knowing, and he did not want to make such a mistake.
The two of them agreed to keep their distance, and only contact each other in case of emergencies. They had laid out their general plans for the upcoming period, and Nero would silently help Gabriel and vice versa.
Should something change, they would find a way to contact one another discreetly, but it would be avoided as much as possible.
As Nero left, returning to his barracks, his thoughts could not help but wonder about the Great families. There were thousands, if not tens of thousands of Great families, since all it took to form one was the presence of a living Mystic.
However, even among Great families there were distinctions. Gabriel’s family, the Anzem family, was one of the highest tiers of Great families, since they had indirect contact with a Sage. Families like the Kade and Ferro families were the top tier families, since they literally had Sages in them.
Below these two were the Great families with an Ascendant as a head, such as the Dom family, and then below that were the numerous Mystic level families. To a large extent, the Great families had a big say within the army, but ultimately they still had to defer to the might of the army itself.
So then how could there be so many Great families that so openly went against the army’s agenda? How could there be so many who could target Nero because his mother was carrying out her job of fighting corruption? Weren’t they afraid of being targeted as well?
Clearly not. For the first time ever, Nero’s perception of the army as one, unified behemoth began to undergo a change.
Clearly, even within the army there were factions and groups with various interests. It was not so easy to root out corruption if the corrupt held high posts within the army itself.
At that point, he couldn’t help but think of his family’s predicament. They were being targeted by so many people, to the point where his parents were forced to take on dangerous roles just to get some support.
Yet they had aligned themselves to the army and the government, so shouldn’t they be in the stronger faction? Why did it seem like they were the ones being suppressed? If that was the truth, then whose agenda was it really to clean up the army? Who was the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
It would be impossible for only his mother to have such a role in MIA, there had to be others. Moreover, they had to be getting their orders from somewhere, and those orders had to come from someone in a commanding role. So who was it really? And why were they facing so much resistance?
For the first time perhaps ever, Nero turned his focus towards the civil government. The president of the country was selected by the army, and his job was solely to maintain and govern the country according to the mandate and direction of the army.
Even so, in terms of resources and personnel, it could not be denied that the government was the largest force right behind the army. Could it be that someone in the government was behind the attempts to clean up the country? But shouldn’t that also be filled with members of the Great family?
Honestly, the civil government was something Nero hardly ever paid attention to. They managed all the boring parts of running a country as far as he was concerned. Maybe it was time to reevaluate such a thought process. However, all of that was for another time - not to mention he expected that KMA would teach him all the details anyway.
In just a couple of days, his training would begin in earnest, and that thought could not help but excite him.
When he returned to his barracks, there was still an hour until lights out, which meant that some of his barracks-mates were sitting around, relaxing and talking to one another. Nero could not help but smile as he relaxed.
Honestly he preferred the barracks to an individual, private residence as this was an excellent way to network - and to unwind.
He joined them, using the little free time he had left to strengthen their camaraderie. Since there wasn’t much else to do, they began playing with a deck of cards. The minutes slipped by, filled with equal measures of shouting and laughing as everyone did their best to cheat heavily in each game. After all, almost everyone was a master at manipulating and hiding cards.
By the time the hour went by, almost none of them felt like sleeping. However, what they wanted did not matter at all for they all knew just how important sleep was. If they were lacking, then their following day would be absolutely miserable.
Unfortunately for them, this night was destined to be a sleepless one for them. Whether it was by chance, or whether it was because of Nero’s recent fame, a whole group of senior cadets found themselves standing outside their barracks, grinning at each other before they went in.
Ragging, or hazing, was a tradition that had been carried out for an untold number of years, and even the academy looked the other way as long as they didn’t go too far.
"Is this the one?" one of the cadets whispered, asking his friend.
"Yes, yes, we’ve already confirmed it. Nero Grant, the new rising star of Enlil, lives in this barracks. We better act now - who knows if we’ll be able to target him once he grows even stronger," answered another.
A few of them chuckled.
"Are we really going through with this plan?" asked one of the cadets, feeling incredibly nervous. "What if he fights back? I saw his fight against Vilhelm - honestly, he could beat our asses."
Another cadet patted him on the back reassuringly.
"This is tradition - it can’t be skipped. We also have the advantage of numbers. Besides, this is a good opportunity to judge just what kind of character he is. Sooner or later, we’ll be fighting together in the real army. I’d like to know the kind of men I’ll be serving down the line with."