Prince Derek had a very sour look now. While it was the Kingdom of St. Ellis that gave Abel his own territory, things started to seem like they were out of control. In fact, it looked like that duchy of Carmel was already beyond the control of the Kingdom of St. Ellis.
Originally, the Kingdom of St. Ellis was composed of seven sub-states, but that number could easily become six, with Abel as one of the rulers. Take now, for example, the duchy of Carmel was speaking on equal ground with the Kingdom of St. Pierrt and the Kingdom of St. Anwall. Worse yet, if Abel truly wanted to form a diplomatic relationship with these two, there probably wasn’t a lot that could stop him.
Abel bowed to Emperor Aldous, “O the great Emperor Aldous; it is my utmost honor to be under your presence.”
Emperor Aldous bowed back, “Greetings to you, Grandmaster Abel. I’ve come here with the friendship of the Kingdom of St. Anwall, and we wish that we can do well with the duchy of Carmel.”
The emperor was asking to be on equal ground with Abel. There were no other ways of interpreting that. Also, if it was someone like Duke Chesterton saying that, there would be a lot of wiggle room to take back what was said. However, this was an emperor that said this. There was no turning back with anything that he said.
Naturally, Abel was not going to turn down an offer as good as this one. In the first place, he only received the duchy of Carmel so he could provide for the two families that raised him. Now, with a powerful empire willing to ally with him, of course, he would take this opportunity to further ensure the safety of his duchy.
Emperor Aldous was taking a lot of the spotlight off from Abel. Like Duke Chesterton, he didn’t speak openly about the gifts that they were bringing. It wouldn’t be polite if they were to show off their presents here. They were whispering to their servants, but Abel didn’t think it was enough to ask them about it.
Bartoli’s voice came over again, “Wizard Cyril of the dwarves has arrived!”
Before Abel moved towards him, Wizard Cyril appeared by the side with his “instantaneous movement” spell.
Wizard Cyril grabbed Abel by his cape, “Ok, let’s cut to the point, Grandmaster Abel. The grandmaster’s wine. Where is it? I’ve gotten thirsty with this trip.”
Bernie’s hands covered his face the whole time.
Abel smiled, then spoke to his servant, “Yes, Wizard Cyril, I have as many as you want. Hey, you! Bring all of the grandmaster’s wine to the main hall!”
Wizard Cyril only looked more serious when the servants left. “Hmm. I don’t think being a king is good for you. You’re still a long way from your journey as a wizard.”
All the royals weren’t sure if they heard correctly. It was not appropriate for Wizard Cyril to speak like this to a king. Still, given that he was a well-respected advanced wizard, it made sense that he’d be this straightforward.
Abel smiled humbly, “Yes, but my family is not quite big enough yet. I need an environment for them to grow.”
“Sure, sure,” Wizard Cyril nodded with the reply. Normally, it’d take the same amount for one to grow with his family. Still, for Abel, because of how extraordinarily powerful he was, he was already at the top of the Holy Continent before his family could find a way to help him. If this kept going, his two families would have no chance but to keep relying on just him to survive.
Soon, a few servants brought bottles of the grandmaster’s wine on the long table. It didn’t take long before one of them to disappear and reappear in Wizard Cyril’s hands.
Abel didn’t really trust Wizard Cyril to act responsibly, “Um, Bernie? Can you watch him for me?”
Bernie laughed as he joined Wizard Cyril, “It’s fine! Wizard Cyril gets loose in front of good wine, but he’s not all that crazy when he’s drunk.”
Bartoli spoke again, “Duke Alberta and Lady Carrie of the elven race have arrived!”
“Abel!” Duke Alberta performed an elven bow to Abel. Instead of referring to Abel by his title, he only spoke his name, giving off an impression of how close their relationship was.
Meanwhile, Lady Carrie just bowed to Abel quietly before standing back behind Duke Alberta.
Abel greeted with a bow, “How did you get here in person, Duke Alberta?”
Duke Alberta said with a smile, “I come here as a representative of Angstrom CIty. I don’t know if you’ll be interested, but would you like the duchy of Carmel to become our ally?”
As soft as Duke Alberta’s voice was, it was enough for all the noblemen to be very shocked. Angstrom City was one of the most prominent cities of the elven race. If the duchy of Carmel were to become its ally, it’d become something that would be far more important than a duchy.
Abel smiled in response, “It’d be my honor, Duke Alberta. Angstrom CIty is a beautiful elven city, and it’d be my honor to have the duchy of Carmel become its ally.”
For now, it’s just spoken promises. Administrations would negotiate all the necessary paperwork on both sides.
Something bothered Duke Chesterton, “Wait, Angstrom City is so far away. It’d be very expensive if the elves wanted to set up a teleportation channel that goes through both places.”
Emperor Aldous was also shocked to hear this, “True, true. Does this duchy have a large-sized teleportation circle or something?”
“I’m afraid not,” Duke Chesterton shook his head, “Even the three kingdoms don’t have the right to make purchases of large-sized teleportation circles. Grandmaster Abel did make a lot of points with the business he was doing in Liante City, but I would say that it was simply not legal for him to buy his own.”
Prince Derek said with a bitter smile, “I think I know something about this.”
The two turned to Prince Derek in silence. Actually, it would make sense that someone from the Kingdom of St. Ellis would know about this better than they did.
Prince Derek asked in a soft voice, “Do you two remember about the Wizard Cliff murder case?”
Duke Chesterton nodded, “Yes. It remained an unsolved case, but when it was revealed that Grandmaster Abel had killed three advanced wizards on his own, people started to think of him as the real killer.”
Prince Derek spoke in a very quiet voice, “Yes, yes. So, then, if the duchy of Carmel really has its own large-sized circle, the answer would be clear.”
Even Emperor Aldous was interested, “Why?”
“Uh,” Prince Aldous spoke with a painful look, “Wizard Cliff’s tower disappeared after he was killed.”
Emperor Aldous widened his eyes, “You’re talking about a tower. You’re talking about a tower that’s sixteen floors tall.”
“The St. Ellis Wizard union did try to hide this information. Now, whoever’s in charge of the Wizard Union, he’s not going to let anyone do any further investigation.”
It’s been a very long time since the information was leaked. Of course, Prince Derek knew all there was to it. If Abel really did have a large-size teleportation circle, he would’ve had more than enough time to come up with a legitimate reason for it.
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