Adam Virtu grew up in a pleasant family environment, and in his life till now, things have been going extremely well.

Awakening his aspect at the age of eight and possessing talent in aura and combat, he undertook training from his father from a young age.

However, even though he was training to become stronger, he had no idea why he did so and soon lost motivation.

When his siblings were born, his mentality changed, as he swore that he would protect them till they were strong enough, re-igniting his motivation and pushing him to become a knight cadet.

Thanks to his great accomplishments at such a young age, he had grown a bit arrogant but was quickly humbled by his family’s kidnapping.

It was in this situation that he was humbled even further, as his younger brother was exhibiting monstrous amounts of intelligence and talent in magic, suddenly becoming a third-stage mage apprentice without anyone in the family knowing how or when.

For this reason, he held back his pride as the eldest sibling since William’s plans were much better than any other plan he could come up with.

The interactions he had the past week alone could be far greater than all the interactions he had had his whole life.

Especially the one he was having at the moment, as he stared absentmindedly at a crystal ball with the face of the human emperor, Nikolas II Rothsgomery.

Never in his life would he have imagined the possibility of having a one-on-one with the human emperor, but here he was, and the one that would communicate with such a figure was none other than his younger brother, William.

Adam had mixed feelings as he looked at his younger brother’s slightly surprised expression.

‘At least he is also surprised, but not as much as I expected.’

He thought, heaving a heavy sigh. He felt insignificant as if he was nothing in front of his younger brother, but he still tried to be optimistic. He couldn’t bring himself to hate William in any way since they were family.

William’s strength is the family’s strength, which is also his strength.

If William became powerful, so would the rest of his family, so why was he so disheartened?

Adam couldn’t help but bite his lip at the self-loathing he was currently feeling.

He couldn’t understand how William could have such connections or understanding of the situation, making impossible plans.

At that moment, William looked at him, his eyes full of worry, before promptly returning to the crystal ball and Trader Bill.

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‘Something is up with Adam. I need to talk to him later, but first, let’s get matters settled as quickly as possible.’

Thought William as he looked at the emperor’s face, which had just appeared.

“Nikolas, my old friend! You see I called you because of this young lad. We just made a deal and talking to you was part of it, so I will let the two of you talk, don’t mind me.”

Said Trader Bill as he chuckled to himself.

Hearing his words, the emperor looked at Adam and William, a brow raised in surprise.

“Isn’t this the two sons of Baronet Malcolm? What is it? Please be quick, since I have work to do…”

William was taken aback, not expecting the emperor to speak like this to him. When he had become the Hidden Master and the Guild Leader of the Bard Guild, the emperor had long died, and the crown prince had taken his position.

Not only that but from what he had learned, he was killed by that very crown prince after the prince became a demonic slave.

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Seeing the emperor talk to him so casually while at the same time knowing who they were in just a glance, William couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Something didn’t feel right to him.

Bowing slightly and showing proper decorum to the emperor, William spoke.

“Your majesty, I have made a deal with trader Bill in exchange for the freedom of my father and mother from Baron Max Byrd’s false accusations.”

The emperor stared at him, and his expression didn’t change when he heard him. After a few seconds of silence, Adam and William became uneasy as the emperor glanced at them.

Thankfully, after a bit, the emperor spoke again, but his words were shocking to their ears, especially William’s.

“You don’t have to worry about your father, I’ve already removed him from the prison. As for your mother, she has already been rescued and is currently being taken care of, they should be able to come to you in a week or so after their bodies are fully healed. As for Baron Max Byrd, he has long been imprisoned and the execution target has changed to him, as for Marquis Cameron and my sister Judy, for now, we are waiting for them to do anything suspicious and they will be captured on the spot.”

Adam’s hands shook due to shock and happiness, while William wasn’t feeling better.

‘Just what the hell is going on? No wonder I felt this sense of uneasiness, something has changed…’

William thought as countless ideas came to mind, but he needed information to make sure, so he could only wait for now.

“It seems that this information has shocked you greatly and seeing that Bill is taking advantage of you, I’ll give you another chance to ask me for something else. As to how your parents were freed, I have to thank you for that, since the information you provided Pandora was enough for us to dig out any heinous thing Baron Byrd had done, so in the end, you should thank yourself.”

The emperor’s words enlightened William to the truth.

In the end, he was the one that sabotaged himself. He had wasted such a precious treasure map for something he had already solved. For some reason, his mouth felt bitter just thinking about the loot he had lost to Bill’s hands.

At least his majesty was just and allowed him another chance for a request, allowing William to push his plans a bit ahead. Since his parents were free, the next step of his plans could begin.

Taking a deep breath to settle his heart, he spoke.

“Your majesty, since you have given me a chance for another request, I won’t be holding back. I would like a recommendation letter for the Marinus Mage Academy.”

William’s words caused great shock to everyone, including the Emperor.

Marinus Mage Academy was the greatest mage academy in Roia, located inside the central region of the magic kingdom, also known as the Thearchy of Bazilarar.

It was called a thearchy because the common civilians viewed the great archmage as a god, so they made temples and religions around mana and mages, creating the current Thearchy of Bazilarar.

The current god’s name, or rather archmage, was none other than Leonardo Lincoln.

“I can give you a letter, but you should know that getting in is incredibly hard, especially at your age range, since most geniuses there are already groomed properly, while you are from a region where magicians are more scarce.”

Said the emperor, breaking the awkward silence that had befallen after William’s words.

The Marinus mage academy had strict rules and only accepted geniuses amongst geniuses. Having a letter of recommendation from the emperor would at least make it easier for William to participate in the entrance exams, but it wouldn’t allow him to go straight up.

William knew this well and didn’t care about the entrance exam. After all, how could a mere entrance exam compare to his years of experience and knowledge of the future? William had only asked about the letter to make it easier to enter since even entering required a certain amount of status.

Although the Marinus mage academy accepted people from all sorts of circumstances, from poor to rich, in reality, the only poor people who were admitted were those who were directly taken as pupils from mages; the others had no chance of entering.

After all, corruption and greed were everywhere, especially in the era before the demon invasion. William could bet with certainty that many of the higher-ups of the academy were demonic slaves.

“I am confident in passing the exam.”

Responded William, not worried about it.

Bill, Adam, and the emperor were perplexed by William's relaxed demeanor.

‘Wasn’t he being a bit too arrogant?’

They couldn’t help but think this.

“I know you are a third-stage mage apprentice, but there are countless geniuses at this stage trying to enter the academy, I advise you not to let your arrogance blind you.”

Said the emperor, showcasing the great amount of information-gathering power he possessed and, at the same time, advising William in worry.

Under normal circumstances, his advice would have helped, but he was talking to William, someone who had lived longer than him and had gone through countless hardships. William didn’t let his pride get over his head; he would never do that.

He was someone who calculated at least fifteen steps ahead. The only reason he had even miscalculated was the unknown connection between Bill and the emperor. If he had known about it, he wouldn’t even have come to seek out help since his parent's safety would have been guaranteed.

However, since William wanted to make a good impression, he decided to showcase more of his talent, giving ease to the tense situation.

“Your majesty, it seems that your information is slightly flawed, so you weren’t able to judge my talent properly… I advanced from a normal human to a third-rank apprentice in just a week.”

His words resounded like thunder to the people listening, especially Adam, whose complexion paled.

Though that was truly the case, he had used a forbidden spell to speed up the process, accomplishing it in just a day rather than a week, but he could’ve performed it in just four days if he was given the proper resources and time if he didn’t use the forbidden spell.