it was in the middle of the day, while sun is still high, in the great city of astor the central seat of mighty astoria empire, a young handsome knight in shining silver armor adorned with black cape and a sword hanging in his waist is riding a horses through the streets of astor that was bustling with peoples activities.

he looked absolutley heroic, people will automaticlly goes to the street sides to avoid him, he also attracted many peoples attention, onlookers are throwing him the gazes of respect, envied, and jealousy.

even some ladies no matter who they are also looking at him full of adoration and coquettishly with their eyes, then red colors start spreading across their cheeks as the young knight suddenly smile slighly while waving his left hand at the crowds.

the crowds recognize this young knight easily as he is a famous rising star in astorian military and he's also champion of the tournament that was held 1 year ago, they still remember his superb peformance in that tournament.

overall he such a dashing young hero.

then the young knight start to speeding up his horse as he still had an important errand, he set course towards the imperial palace but because astor is a massive city with hundreds of thousand population even with horses it still takes time.

when finally he is near giant statue of a bearded warrior with heavy armor holding a greatsword, the young knight suddenly stop and set his vision at the statue.

this giant statue is the statue of karl astor founder of astoria empire,

the young knight then gives the statue a knight salute as it's mandatory customs for all astorian knights when they pass any karl astor statues throughout the empire.

the young knight then continue riding towards the imperial palace.

after several minutes the young knight see the sight of majestic imperial palace that faintly visible in the far, the roads gradually empty from houses and buildings instead it was replaced by landscape of beautiful gardens filled with any kinds of pretty flowers and trees.

he finally arrive at the palace gates guarded by a platoon of silver armored golden cloaks guardsmen.

"HOLD right there, state your business".

one of the gold cloaks shouting to the young knight, while the other gold cloaks standing by protecting the gate, they did not recognize the young knight.

"alfred byron, here under direct orders from general arthur firenze, commander of the 5th legion, im bringing important messages for the grand commander reizen fuze, this is the order seal for my identification".

the young knight who's name is alfred byron identified himself while giving the gold cloaks his order seal, a special seal that can granted high level access in the military, then the gold cloaks start examining the order seal carefully.

"apologize sir alfred, the order seal is verified, one of us will take you to the grand commander, you may proceed".

the gold cloaks salute to alfred and give orders to his subordinates to open the gates and to take alfred to palace door.

"this way sir but please get down from the horse and follow me" alfred nod and get off from his horse as the palace forbid individual horses except for carriages then he follow the gold cloak as they enter the imperial palace courtyard.

during their walk inside the courtyard, alfred sees and heavily revered the grandeur imperial palace, it is the first time for him setting foot inside the palace, this is where the kaiser, ruler of astoria, the most powerfull individual in the realm reside, and is also serve as the main court for all political and military power in the empire.

it's a huge palace adorned with white gold colors and many, there is large beautifull fountain with 3 woman statue representing 3 wives of karl astor who help him founding astoria that positioned in middle of courtyard and lots of beautifully carved column, statues, gardens decorating the entire vast palace, he can see several servant tending and caring the gardens, it is a perfect palace for one of the most strongest and influential nation in the realm.

the main palace door was 4 meters tall, with silverish colors, and 2 golden dragons entwined each other image can be seen in the middle of the door, while there are 2 black armoured with golden cloak standing in both sides of the door, both are members of inner imperial guard, responsible for the inner main palace defense, and there is also a palace official with black uniform standing in front of the door.

alfred now stop before the main palace door, then the gold cloak escorting him starts speaking with the palace official who waits by the door.

"sir alfred, please follow that official, he will take you to the grand commander himself".

and the gold cloak salute to alfred and return back to the outer gate.

"sire before we enter the palace, these guards will conducting search all over your body for security reason, so please lift your hand up to the air, and we also need to take your weapons temporarily".

alfred nod while removing his swords belt and one of the guards start walking towards him then using some kind of magic items to scanned alfred body.

after few seconds the search is done, the guards return the swords back to alfred and let him pass inside.

inside the palace, alfred walking in a vast hallway with red carpets and shining floors, many parades of armors, weapons, shields stored inside protected glass box, and dozens of exquisite paintings, small statue, expensive furniture decorating in stylish way the entire palace interior.

'sigh..... this is even more grand than our estates and the marquis castle that father serves'.

he start to remembering a marquis castle that he visited with his father once.

they keep walking until they arrive outside a room in 2nd floor, the official knock at the door then signaling alfred to enter.

alfred open the door then enter, inside he see a middle age men with short dark brown hair and scars running vertically in his black eyes, he gives people feelings of a hard battle hardened soldiers that has through many bloody battles.

this middle age men is none other the famous reizen fuze, grand commander of the southern military district, astoria forces formation are seperate into 4 district.

4 district are the southern district, western district, and eastern district who each commanded by a grand commander, except for the central district which is directly commanded by the kaiser himself.

the 4 military area are responsible for the defense of the empires territory according to their assignment, but the oceans blocked the entire northern empire territory which is why there is no need for another district except for a seperated imperial naval command for the defense along the coastlines.

each military district commanding several legions and squadrons of wyvern or gryphon knights.

because the southern territory which is directly borders what was called the gobi deadland, a barren lands filled with barbarians, orcs, goblin tribes who sometimes raiding deep into empires territory, and also strong demons beast that in period of time came out from the arga forest.

thats why southern district holds the largest contigents of legion including the 5th legion that alfred attached to, compare to the other district as they need to defend a fragile southern territory.

reizen is currently siting near a desk and writing something peacefully, but when alfred enters the room, he start looking at alfred.

"are you the one who's firenze send??".

alfred start to sweat a little, reizen's gaze give him a very heavy feelings, but he still maintained his composure.

he give reizen a salute first before answering

"yes grand commander, general firenze order me to bring an urgent messages to you", then alfred brought a red envelope that contained a sensitive information and handing it to reizen.

reizen then open the envelope then start to studied the letters content for a few minutes before finally raise his head towards alfred who is still standing straight in front of him.

"what is your name and how old are you?" reizen suddenly asked alfred.

"my name is alfred byron commander, i am 18 years old now, serving as knight battalion leader in the 5th legion" alfred answer decisively.

"hmm..... 18 years old and a level 2 super warrior huh, wait byron you said... hehe i see you are the one who's the champion of academies tournament last time are you.... you had a good talent... keep it up".

reizen start to praising alfred, knowing that alfred had a high cultivation rank for his age.

it must be known that average 18 years old who cultivate are still lingering between level 3 or level 5 fighter rank, even lots of people above 30 years old still cannot make a breakthrough from fighter rank to super warrior rank, so level 2 super warrior at the age of 18 years old like alfred are simply fenomenal.

"thank you my lord for the praise".

instead of being neither humbled or became arrogant because the praise, alfred thanked reizen with a relax face that show no emotion.

"tell me... with your strength and age, your potential could be said limitless and you can enter directly as imperial guard but instead you choose to be attach with the legion and deployed to the front line... why is that??".

reizen continue to ask alfred with interest in his eye.

it is the fact that by entering the imperial guards that one social status will rise as the imperial guards are an elite forces who defend and protecting the kaiser, it is a great honor to became one of their members, while joining with the legion does not bring much of benefits.

alfred silent first for few seconds before start answering.

"the reason is to get what i want,..... but first i need to get stronger, constant battle over period of time is greatly stimulating cultivation progress, commander also know this right..".

alfred answering with a serious face.

"thats why i choose to be deployed with the legion especially the legion attached to the southern district where there are many foreign powers and demon beasts incursion is located, so lots of battles happen in that area".

when alfred is speaking, reizen silently listening and sometimes nodding as he undertood it himself.

the legion that was deployed to the south will be stationed near the the empire southern border to block any savages tribes raids and demon beasts stampede that happened frequently, they will face an extensive numbers of battles, also the legion sometimes sending a small mobile detachment to make a cross border counter raid againts barbarian villages deep in gobi deadland.

even for alfred who just joining the legion for a few months already tastes several battles against barbarian, orcs and even the demon beast.

"second is ... yes ... to get a higher status, the status that being a member of imperial guard alone is still not enough to help achieving what i want, only with promotion through merits in battlefields and higher strength that i hope it will be enough".

alfred with unwavering gaze at commander reizen as he answer all the question, he also know that the stronger you are the more you can be respected by the peoples while merits can get you reward of higher position or even noble title's.

"ha ha ha..... to get what you want hah?? that's interesting....".

reizen is laughing after hearing alfreds answer.

"yes commander, correct but... why is it interesting?".

alfred is kind of confused reizen's reaction towards his dreams.

"when i ask you before i thought that you will answer about some bullshit being deployed for greatness and the honor of the empire, but instead its to get what you want... hahha".

reizen really amused with this young man who standing silently in front of him right now.

suddenly there is a knock in the door and someone entering the room, it is one of the palace officials.

"lord fuze excuse me for interupting, but the meeting will began shortly in imperial war room".

the palace official inform reizen about some meeting alfred thought.

"very well, i will be there, and you alfred byron follow me now, you accompany me to the meeting".

reizen dismissed the official while beckoning alfred to follow him.

"yes commander". alfred greatly confuse but he still following reizen because a superiors order.

both of them leaving the room together, and head straight towards the imperial war room.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reizen and alfred did not know that there is a person who's following them from behind, this person has been following alfred since alfred first attracted his attention in the plaza all the way to the palace, he's identity is none other than the unparalled dark prison overlord arno.

the reason why arno suddenly attracted to alfred is not because love at the first sight or something like that, instead it's because arno can feel that this boy had really strong destiny connection with him, but what's the reason behind it, even arno himself does not know anything about it, he can only watching alfred closely to see what's gonna happen in the future.

both reizen and alfred is still walking towards the imperial room where the meeting will be held while arno is following just behind them, naturally they were unable to feel his presence, if they know then both of them will be totally shocked.

in greysia realm where the saint ranked experts is represented the peak but because there wasn't many of them so they cannot be use as power benchmark, instead it is the grandmaster rank that stands as first class experts.

a grandmaster or grand mages ranked individual can enjoy many reputations and placed in importants positions if they joined a country's or organizations, lot's of these organizations or countrys will try to inviting them to join their sides, the amount of grandmaster experts in one sides can be used as a benchmark on how strong the organizations or country's is.

astoria empire itself had relatively large numbers of grandmasters experts in their ranks compared to other country except for the saint dragons mountains, for example all grand commanders of the military district can only be held by a grandmasters ranked officers.

just like reizen fuze himself who had the strength of level 3 grandmaster, he already have lots of experience in a war, even battling another grandmaster expert who had higher level than him and survive, that's why his combat sense and awareness had been trained and forged that even he can feel a peak level 6 grandmaster warrior presence from a far.

this is why it will be shocking event for reizen to be followed unnoticed.

but the one who's following him was arno the dark prison overlord afterall, so it's just natural for reizen not noticed him.

finally after walking for several minutes they arrived inside the imperial war room, a spacious but simple decorated room, there's only few furnitures inside, there are a large oval table with several chairs in it in the middle of the room, and one grand looking chair at the edge of the table that it looks like prepared for someone important, this room is used for a high level military affairs meeting.

there is already several people's inside, most of them were middle age mans wearing sharps black and white millitary uniform.

reizen then starts talking to these man's and introducing alfred to them, and alfred quickly doing a salute towards them, because he know who these peoples are, they were grand commanders of military districts , and several generals along with their adjutants which is all of them was his superior with higher officers rank.

while arno just strolling around the room looking at the paintings on the wall as he doesn't interested in these peoples conversation.

not along the room door is open, and a beautiful woman is entering the room along with her assistant, and arno is looking at her while remembering that this is exactly the woman who's spying on him back at the toadman fanctom stores.

'he... i see, it looks like this woman had a high position in the empire,... but hell, .....why her destiny is also connected to me, even had higher intensities than that alfred boy... this is the third time already just for today alone..., '.

arno pondering while standing near an open window while still looking at her, trying to understand why this woman also had destiny connection with him.

'initial heaven rank or should i say level 1 grandmas....no, it's a grand mage huh....'.

arno found out her strength which is a level 1 grand mage according to her mental power, almost all people in this room now is at grandmaster ranks or heaven rank, except for alfred.

the adjutants and the lady assistant each of them is only at super warrior ranks, and of course including arno who himself is a half step divine supreme.

"ah the young miss of the dreyfuss family... welcome welcome, you still beautiful as ever huh hahaha".

one of the grand commanders laughed while welcoming the lady and praised her, he was a large men with dishelved red hair and red beards.

"thank you lord altmar, you still really carefree as ever huh, don't you know that the city states are getting restless this past month." the lady smile while also start to greet the other people.

"i know i know, but my western district is always ready hehehe don't worry, but reizen over there is the one with huge headache with all the orcs and barbarians hahahha".

the grand commander of the west district altmar still laughed very loud as he start teasing reizen.

"altmar.....sigh... welcome lady melissa, how is your parents by the way, still relaxing at their seaside home?".

"both of them is fine, also they decide to living their retired life in there instead going back to the capital, even my little brother is with them right now." .

melissa explaining her parents condition to reizen, as he knows them personally.

"ah so the duke and duchess it's fully retired huh..., so it was you then who is now taking care the dreyfuss affairs isn't ?"

"yes, because my cute brother is not yet an adult and still in the academy, he's unable to succeded father yet, that's why lots family responsibilities is now fall on me to take care".

melissa is holding her head and sighing while speaking about her family affairs.

"but you also the members of the....you know, is it alright for you to carry many burdens?".

other commander start asking melissa as well.

"yes yes but i'm sure for the rose genius there is nothing she can't take care of right miss hahahahha".

commander altmar still with his unique loud laugh while encouraging melissa.

"indeed but, you should also pay attention to your safety and health, if there is a time when you had any problem, don't hesitate to seek us, even if we're already old but we still usefull sometimes".

reizen suggest that if melissa needing their help, they will quickly come to support her, while the other commander who is listening also nodding their heads.

"commander altmar that.... please don't called me with that nickname, i kinda hate it he he, ....but thank you my lords, i will not be polite then when that time is come".

melissa smile brightly while giggling as she heard them offering their support.

melissa actually very happy when talking to these old veterans, because they were soldiers and served for long time in the military, their attitude is honest and straightforward unlike nobles who is heavily involved with politics.

and about the rose genius, is melissa famous nickname during her time studying in jetsun academy, as she was able to became an adept mage at the age of 19 years old, it has to be known that cultivation for mage is much more harder than warriors, that's why there are many grandmasters compared to grand mages.

the rose name came from dreyfuss duchy emblem which is a roses.

although melissa always hated the nickname but she was definetly a genius, and is further cemented as she became a grand mage in her 30's, it's very hard for a super warrior breaking through to grandmaster, not to mention from an adept mage to grand mage.

even though the other grand commanders in the room are also at grandmasters rank but they cannot be compared to melissa at all as they already so old when they breakthrough to the grandmaster rank.

these grand commanders ages are varied between 80-90 years old, of course because when someone's had higher cultivation rank not only it will increased their body's and soul strength but also increasing their lifespans.

for a human grandmaster their average lifespans is around 150-200 years, while a saint ranked age can reach 300 to 500 years old.

"by the way lady melissa, i'd like to introduce you someone,..... this is alfred, he's a young genius like you, he's my adjutant for today".

reizen also did not forget introduce alfred to melissa, then he start to chatted with the other commanders and general while leaving melissa and alfred.

"alfred byron my lady, i'm serving with the 5th legion..".

alfred quickly gave salute and introducing himself to melissa, altough he never met her before but he know who she is, this is lady melissa dreyfuss, she's the one who is in charge of the dreyfuss family right now, the dreyfuss family is one of the most powerfull and oldest noble's family in the empire, this doesn't crack joke.

"ah so you are alfred byron, i've heard of you, hemmmm.... so you arthur firenze men's huh.... oh yes did your father old man regis still with marquis kesara??" .

melissa start looking up and down on alfred's.

"yes lady dreyfuss, my father still served marquis ernest kesara as his counselor, father had friendly relations with the late marquis, and now he's helping his son".

alfred grew anxious as he was examined by melissa.

"he he, relax just call me melissa don't be so formal,.....also both old man regis and the late marquis serving in the same legion together during ostia war you know, they don't just have friendly relations, they were best friend's, it's natural i think for regis taking care of his friend's children, and ernest kesara is also a capable and honest man, unlike majority of other noble's right.....i remember the last time i've met your father was at ernest wedding several years ago but i didn't see you there, what happen ?".

melissa remind alfred that his father and the late marquis are inseperable and they relation is more than just a friendly relationship as regis byron is really loyal to his deceased friend.

"umm sigh...at that time i did not come because i'm still at the academy, and because the wedding is being held back at kesara estates which is very far from the capital, so the academy did not gave me permission to attend.....sigh".

alfred sighing while also remembering the time he's finally home when ernest kesara complaining to alfred about why his little brother from a different father and mother did not attend his wedding event.

"heheh..... so that's what happen, you know the academy sometimes really miser and strict about their rule heheh... alright i've got a proposition for you but let's talked about it after the meeting's end.... it's regarding a certain little sister of mine....you know her right....heheh".

melissa then gigling while mentioning someone to teased alfred.

"ho...ho..w did you know!!?" alfred then suddenly frozed because melissa's words

"hehe of course i know.... but like i said let's wait until the meeting is over..... look they already here".

the room door is finally opening again, this time several peoples with uniforms and full armored enter the room while circling a person in their middle, this person is a middle age men wearing extremely grand white gold military uniform adorned with red cape, his height is tall and his body is full of powerfull muscle, he had short golden hair and blue eyes, overall he had very majestic and overbearing presence.

when the other people in the room seeing this person all of them quickly placed one of their hands in their chest and bowing toward that person, including melissa and alfred, because the person who just entered the room escorted by several people now is exactly the current ruler of astoria empire, kaiser wilhelm astor.

'hemm high stage heaven ra aih..... forgot again... level 4 grandmaster huh.... not bad.... but these peoples...aih they really do have different way of thinking now huh sigh...'.

arno who already moving to the balcony start looking at the kaiser and gauges his strength, but he also pondering about the kind looking middle age men wearing a full black armor who's standing beside the kaiser.

that black armored man have the strength of level 6 grandmaster, which is signify that he was stronger than the kaiser and everyone in the room, but his attitude was neither arrogant and looking down towards them, even he had a humbled attitudes towards the kaiser.

arno also analyzed about this from before when melissa talking to the grand commanders who was stronger than her but their attitudes is the same with that black armored man, these situation kinda making arno stupefied and feeling marvelous somehow.

because back then during arno's own time, the strong always preys on the weak, for the strong can get everything they want just because they were strong, but now even though the strong are still respected and idolized but not severed as from before.

"alright let's not wasting anymore time shall we, lets begin".

the kaiser then beckoning to start the meeting, although he speaking very leisurely but his voice had a powerfull feeling about it.

then everyone start to take a sit except for the adjutants that are standing behind their direct superior including alfred who's standing behind reizen, alfred still anxious trying to maintained his composure because he didn't think the kaiser himself will come to the meeting.

"reizen let start with you first, how's situations in the south ?".

the kaiser who sits in the grand chair is asking reizen about his district situation.

"yes, the situation in the south is deteriorating rapidly, i've just received a messages from the 5th legion commander general arthur firenze concerning a large numbers of barbarian hordes spotted just few kilometers near the border in gaztic valley, but the messages also mentioned that they seem just idling around doing nothing".

reizen then reports the message content that he got from alfred to the kaiser.

"hmm.. what are they doing in there??, sigh..... what about the demon beast then??, the message is too short and vague, we need more to understand the general situations".

there is an old man with whitish black hair and beards wearing long grey robes who sits beside the kaiser start asking question to reizen, while the kaiser nodding his head agreeing with the grey old man.

"now that's what the real problem is, i've been recalled back to the capital almost a month now, the situation had change rapidly since i left the south, that is why i invite this young knight behind me to the meeting, because he is just arrived here today from the south bringing firenze message, he will know more about the situations".

reizen then informing everyone that he had invited alfred to debrief everyone on the situations.

"your majesty my name is alfred byron, leader of knight battalion in the 5th legion, as commander fuze says, i'm indeed just arrived under direct order from general arthur firenze, and i also know about the south current situation more or less".

alfred start introducing himself and bowing to the kaiser, but under everyone and the kaiser gazes he even more grew anxious and sweating.

the kaiser then smile looking at alfred, before start speaking.

"you are regis byron son huh..... good i've expecting more of you in the future, but now tell me the situation before you left in details".

"yes your majesty, huahhh... the situation in the south is lot more complex than it looks, majority of the problems actually came from the demon beasts instead the barbarians, the demon beasts is coming from the deadland in large scales that we haven't seen before and wreaking havoc the entire southern borders, several villages and small towns close to the borders have been damages from this attack, all the legions attached to southern district already moved to evacuating the civillians from the affected area to the north and pushing back the demon beast but the problem is still persist"

alfred flawlessly reporting the situation he know.

"then what about the barbarians, you said that the demon beast is the real problem instead the barbarian, what's the meaning of this?".

the black armored man who-->>

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