“Then that’s fine.”
Observing that Maximus wasn’t intimidated by such a substantial sum, they sighed in relief.
“Your Majesty indeed possesses the magnanimity of a sage,” Kelton said.
“Thanks.”
“Is there anything more gentlemen?”
His meaning is to evict the guests if they have nothing more to say.
Though it’s impolite, he still has a lot to do.
“That—When we were registering your name, we noticed that you’re an official student of Origin Arcana Institute.”
“So?” Maximus smiled.
Finally, their true purpose was about to be revealed.
After all, it’s implausible to send two Tier 6 powerhouses merely to confirm the approval of his empire.
“Um, we would like to seek your assistance in transferring us to a better position at Etherium Embassy.”
“We heard that official students there can use credits to make requests to the guild.”
“I see. I seem to remember that Etherium Embassy is one of the top 10 guilds,”
“But why would I help you?” Maximus said after some thought.
“We will remember Your Majesty’s favor.”
“What can a favor do?”
“Uh…”
“How about this, you help guard my territory for a hundred years, and I’ll assist you?”
The condition of Maximus made them pause for a while.
They started to communicate through spiritual consciousness.
“Hey, Gladir, do you want to guard here for a hundred years?”
“We can only compromise. After all, we don’t have enough money to extricate ourselves from this situation.”
Indeed, they don’t have money to leave their situation.
With low talent and financial capability, they can only stay here to get by.
However, even if they had enough money it still wouldn’t be easy to get out of here.
Otherwise, why would they still need to flatter Maximus?
To get out of here, you need two things, money, and connection.
For money, it required an enormous amount even for their caliber, reaching billions of magic crystals.
Like most Tier 6 beings they only had properties worth hundreds of millions.
After all, they still needed to buy training resources.
Of course, they could attempt to save up for hundreds of years, which is nearly equivalent to what Maximus has offered.
However, this also means that they would remain stagnant in their strength for hundreds of years.
Although they only had a small chance of advancing through tier 7, it’s still a chance after all.
What Maximus offered to them is equivalent to only waiting 100 years without paying any money.
For connection, it was hard to find.
With their mediocre talent, who in the higher-up would cater to them?
Their only chance is Maximus as he was a student in the institute where their guild was.
Maximus can use his status to change their position with sufficient credits.
After discussing the pros and cons, they ultimately decided to accept Maximus’ offer.
After all, it’s merely guarding the place for a hundred years, which isn’t too lengthy given their tens of thousands of years of lifespan.
“We’ll gladly guard Your Majesty’s territory,” the two solemnly said.
“That’s good. How about we sign a contract?”
“Sure, I happen to have some Tier 6 contract paper here,” Kelton said as he produced a contract paper.
They proceeded to draft the terms of the contract.
They promised to guard Maximus’s territory for a hundred years, with the exception of facing a Tier 7 enemy, which would give them the right to retreat.
Maximus also pledged to relocate them to the Arcane Continent, ensuring that it would include managing a prosperous city at the very least.
“Here’s to a fruitful cooperation!”
Kelton and Gladis smiled broadly.
They initially thought they would only be transferred to the Arcane Continent, but Maximus had gone a step further by promising to relocate them to a prosperous city.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave,” Maximus, seeing their satisfaction, was ready to depart.
“Until we meet again, Your Majesty.”
…
Later that night, at the City of Arcana in Maximus Manor:
After a busy day in his kingdom, he finally managed to sort out all the details for establishing the Empire.
Soon, there would be a constant flow of people entering and leaving his territory, for which he needed to be adequately prepared.
To ensure that his people would not be subjected to bullying and could adapt comfortably, he decided to delay opening the entrance to his territory.
At the start, only major merchants and established figures would be allowed in.
Adventurers and tourists, on the other hand, would have to wait at least three years before they could visit his domain.
As he noticed his children were not yet home, he entered the kitchen to prepare food.
With his life points as an advantage, he was able to cook a variety of dishes almost effortlessly, akin to turning decay into magic.
After cooking and setting the table meticulously, the vehicle that transported his children pulled up to the door.
“Dad, we’re home!”
“Daddy, we missed you!”
His children rushed toward him.
“How was school?” Maximus smiled as he embraced and gave them a kiss.
“It was really fun, even better than playing yesterday,” Lyla exclaimed.
“Oh, what did you do?”
“We were trapped in a maze and had to make it out within a time limit.”
“And there were so many monsters to fight along the way,” she added excitedly.
“Indeed, it does sound fun,” Maximus mused, acknowledging that danger often added to the excitement.
“And how about you five? How’s Grade 1 treating you?”
“It’s kind of a hassle,” Neo murmured, wishing to just lie down and rest.
“We didn’t do much. It felt like we were running for years then suddenly the teachers said it’s the end of class,” Sam said with a hint of disappointment.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to use their robot as their task was to train their willpower.
“Huh, stop… nightmare…” Neo, who had just laid down, shuddered when he heard Sam’s words.
Being only five months old, how dare their teacher subject them to torture such as running?
Perhaps he should tell his father about this and see if he could rescue him from that nightmare.
“But it’s pretty easy for us,” Serene said, not comprehending the difficulty their brothers were facing.
“Of course, it’s easy for you to say. You just need to freefall from the sky. How cool is that?” Luke chimed in, looking enviously at his five-month-old sisters.
The girls’ task was to free fall from various heights without any equipment and land safely.
Fortunately, the teacher possessed considerable power, ensuring that no matter how they landed, they wouldn’t get hurt.
“How about we eat first while you tell me about school?” Maximus suggested, seeing that an argument was about to erupt.
“Wow, delicious food!”
Their attention finally shifted to the food he had prepared.
“Let’s eat.”
The children seated themselves and eagerly dug into their meal.
Even Neo, who was born lazy, managed to get up, filling the void of energy he had consumed earlier.
“By the way, why have you been so quiet today, Max?” Maximus inquired, noticing that Max hadn’t said much throughout the day.
“Uh…” Max hesitated, unsure of how to respond.
“Liam, tell me.” Maximus turned to Liam, suspecting that Max might have encountered some trouble at school.
“Hahaha, it’s because he was defeated by that little girl, Ella,” Liam chuckled, remembering Max’s expression from earlier.
“Ella? Is that the little girl who was with Max in the library?”
“Yes, Father. Max was being quite arrogant earlier, flaunting his shiny armor everywhere.”
“Then that feisty Ella challenged Max to a fight, feeling that her spotlight was being overshadowed.”
“Oh,” Maximus glanced at Max, who was now blushing in embarrassment.
“It’s alright, Max. Just take this as a lesson not to let arrogance get the better of you.”
Maximus offered his advice, but upon seeing Max’s demeanor becoming more downtrodden, he modified his approach.
“If you really don’t want to lose, then train harder.”
“Yes, Dad!” Max’s spirit was rekindled as he resolved to beat Ella in the future.
“Well, as long as you understand.”
…
While Maximus and his children were enjoying their meal, somewhere in the Moonlight Empire on the Sunburnt Plateau:
“Are you really going to be gone for a long time, brother?” Amara asked with a pitiful expression as she gazed at her brother Alistair.
“Yes, this place is too barren. I need to go to the Arcane Continent,” Alistair responded with a cold tone.
It had been four months since Alistair regained his memories from his past life.
Now, he had advanced to the Peak Tier 2 Great Knight, yet he still felt dissatisfied with his progress.
“The mana here is too low. I need to become stronger quickly,” Alistair explained, his determination evident.
Originally, after regaining his memories, Alistair had been consumed by thoughts of revenge.
However, as he calmed down he thought that something significant must have occurred.
After all, with the Nexus Continent’s leader, Malgron, being the strongest in the world, powerhouses from other continents wouldn’t be able to kill them without causing a big commotion.
Indeed, as he tapped into his battle will that was bound through this world, he noticed that the original Nexus Continent was riddled with holes through which corrupt energy seeped in.
Were it not for the array formations blocking it, the current Curse Continent might not even exist.
The reason for his urgency to become stronger was rooted in fear.
Yes, a former Apex Sovereign was afraid.
Whatever lay on the other side of those holes resembled a manifestation of terror, and it was getting nearer and nearer
“Is that so?” Amara’s eyes welled with near tears.
She didn’t know what happened to Alistair four months ago, that he began training like crazy.
Unbeknownst to Alistair, Amara was also a reincarnation of an Apex Sovereign.𝓞𝒱𝐞xt.𝔠𝒪𝚖
As He simply regarded her as a highly talented girl, as the talent of that caliber had been quite commonplace during their prosperous era.
“Yes, but rest assured, in a few years, I will return and take you to the Arcane Continent.”
Alistair could only guarantee his safety by journeying to the Arcane Continent, so he couldn’t be with his sister.
“Then you have to promise.”
“I promise.”