Chapter 183

183 Learning.

Valerian was fighting with the phantom of the old man without the concept of time, he has been trying to win this battle for the past ten days without a stop. However, the more desperate he became the worst he lost. In the past ten days, he lost count of how many battles he has lost. How many times this phantom has trampled over him, he did not know anymore.

However, during this process, he learned how to stay calm and never give up. He learned how to channel his skills even better. The battle style where he could use mana and battle aura together evolved significantly as well. The only thing that shadowed his gains was the miserable defeats every time.

Valerian had learned something else as well, he had learned that this phantom was stronger than his own strength and he could only beat this guy when he is stronger. Thinking about that, he stopped fighting and stood facing the phantom of the old grandmaster. The phantom did not attack him on his own. While the silver-haired child had given up the intention of seeking death and humiliation.

As soon as he thought of this, something inside him clicked, and he sensed his mana reserve increasing. Valerian had pondered over it for a lot many times, but he never got the answer to how the mana-retaining ability grows, is the human body not limited? At the same time, his battle experience with the phantom merged with his mind and he sensed that his body has become lighter than before.

...

Inside the room, Valerian’s body was glowing slightly, this was a sign of advancement in grades. Fortuna gave him a nonchalant gaze and then went back to sleep. The cloudy night sky was indicating an impending storm.

In the courtroom, a meeting was being held. The ministers were all silent because Fragrantia has just conveyed an idea from Valerian to the court. This idea indeed impressed them, and they could not help but marvel at the talent the young prince held. Now they thought that it was a great thing for this child to be adopted by the royal family.

Prime Minister Alm stood up and said, “The proposal is feasible and will save us a lot of effort. However, there are a few questions that I would like to put forward.”

Libra nodded and said, “Go ahead, Alm.”

.....

The prime minister said, “The first thing we have to think about is the candidate for this coupe. Then we will have to make sure that this person is kept in control. If his or her ambition grew out of hand and the dog bared its teeth at the owner, things will be saddening.”

The people nodded, and they all began to consider the issue at length. Libra was also feeding them with ideas regarding the situation. After two hours when the court has not reached any decision, Libra wanted to adjourn the meeting and resume tomorrow, but a guard walked in, and bowed deeply before he said, “Your Excellency, His Highness Valerian is outside and he wants to participate in the meeting.”

This shocked the people, and Fragrantia furrowed her brows as she said, “I told him not to get down the bed. This child is getting more and more spoilt.”

Libra smiled faintly at her remark, he remembered the scene in the study when Valerian decomposed the entire table with a single touch. He said, “Let him in.”

The courtroom was silent and a few moments later, Valerian walked in with his head high and back straight. He bowed to everyone and then raised his hand to speak with signs, ‘I apologize to everyone, in the last battle my throat got hurt and I am still under treatment. However, the situation we have at hand is urgent so I hope you all bear with me.’

Prime minister Alm said, “Your Highness, you need not worry, we all admire you coming over to contribute even in such a condition.”

Valerian nodded and expressed his gratitude to the man and the prime minister told him about the present predicament they were in. Valerian nodded but he did not reply right away.

After a few minutes, he said, ‘We can ignore those who are too shallow, a low-quality puppet will not have a brain of his own which will shift all the burden to us. The mediocre ones always look for a chance to prove themselves, and they are very shady and cunning. The outstanding ones always work with a measure. So, we can focus on them.’

The court was surprised, and suddenly a minister asked, “Pardon me, Your Highness, but would the outstanding person not look for freedom? What can be the guarantee that they will cooperate with us and not backstab us?”

The question was genuine, and it was indeed a possibility that the candidate they support will bite them back. Valerian nodded and said, ‘Having doubt in this situation is necessary, it will provide us a layer of protection, however, we must know that a strong person never commits till they have absolute confidence.

All we have to do is monitor their preparation against us, and sabotage it time and time again. We will be safe. The time we have to be mindful of is when we are dealing with the Valkyrians, after this continental war is over, things will be in our control and we could deal with the Stellans however we want.’

At this moment, he was speaking with a face that resembled a true monarch, cunning, sharp, and confident. Except for Fragrantia, the rest of the people were too shocked, even Libra as the emperor did not have such a sharp edge when he was young.

Alm said, “I agree with this method.”

Following that the entire court echoed with calls for agreement. Fragrantia had a gratifying smile on her face. She knew that this child of hers was special but this was something that exceeded her expectations. She could not help but recall her sister at this moment. Valerian was similar to her in this aspect.

...

The meeting came to an end when the candidate for the coup was decided and the shadows were dispatched to contact the guy. At the same time, a piece of news arrived that the Centaurs have movement on the border and Second Prince had taken charge of the forces there.

Valerian was sitting in his room when he thought of something and asked Fragratia, ‘Soul communication beads are easily available then why do we have such a delay in the communication?’

Fragrantia said, “I don’t know, it has been like this for a long time.”

Valerian sighed and shook his head, ‘The glorified winged beasts are reduced to postmen because of this. Have them deliver a batch of soul communication beads to the fronts and the offices of all the city government offices, then set up a special brigade here in the capital and name them the communication division.’

Fragrantia asked, “Okay, and what about the people we will need to run that special division, your highness? Do you think there are a lot of mages who will spare their time on this job?”

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘No, but we have a lot of mages who have grade-one talent. These mages were all those who did not receive many teachings. They are reduced to household work and butlers in noble households. We can recruit them and give them a better status with this.’

Fragrantia was surprised again, she said, “Since you woke up you have been giving me one after another bomb, Val, is everything alright?”

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘I am fine, everything is alright. It’s just I have learned that always being aggressive is not very useful. I have learned that I am weak.’

Fragrantia nodded and said, “Good that you learned this fact. Also, I noticed that you have grown stronger.”

Valerian nodded and did not hide this fact, suddenly he asked, ‘Does the Lumen Empire has an Imperial Guardian?’

Fragrantia nodded and said, “That senior will come out only when we are facing a situation where the nation might fall apart.”

Valerian nodded and said, ‘I will go back to the academy, I need to see Teacher Fallax.’

Fragrantia nodded and said, “I will keep you informed about things here, do not worry.”

The two people were chatting with each other, they did not mind that it was dark night. The topics varied from politics to the tales of Fragrantia’s youth. Valerian listened to her very contently.

After a few minutes, the sun came up and the door was knocked. Priscilla’s voice sounded, “Your Excellency, it is me.”

Fragrantia said, “Come in.”

The girl came in with a brocade box in her hand. She said, “Your Excellency, the magical collar chains have been refined.”

Fragrantia nodded and took the box from her. She said, “Val, after the continental war, go out and explore the world.”

Valerian nodded and said, “I was going to do that even if you didn’t tell me to.”

The two people smiled as they watched the sun coming up outside the window.