Ajax had just finished his non-combat exams, all in all the subjects weren’t all that hard but he knew that Alchemy was the only subject he was getting a perfect score on. With these exams out of the way his class only had their final dungeon delve to go through before the Academy would take a three month break before the start of the new year.

“How come we are given such a long break?” Ajax asked as they moved through the city.

“The break is mainly for the third years and above.” Benedict chimed in. “They have this time to set up trips to the other dungeons where they can get the benefit of clearing some floors.”

Benedict, Ajax, Lexi, and Anna were all heading towards the royal palace where they will be receiving their prizes for the tournaments. Quite a few people had thrown some curious glances towards their group but not a single person had dared to even approach them.

The reason why everyone was keeping a respectful distance was the tall and wide bodyguard that followed them. Ajax had recognised the man as the same person who had accompanied Lexi and Annabeth back at the improvised war. Ajax was able to better approximate his level compared to last time but he was still sure that the man was over level one hundred and someone he didn’t want to mess with.

“I think we are being followed.” Ajax said.

He had caught glances and it seemed like quite a few people were following them.

“Of course we’re being followed.” Lexi laughed.

“Interesting that you caught on to them.” the bodyguard said.

“Most likely because of how many there are.” Anna filled in.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked, surprised.

“I always have at least two people watching over me.” Anna explained. “Because of my family situation my father insists on it.”

“Then there's you and I who just became prime targets for every other nation.” Lexi said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Benedict also had a personal guard.”

“Wait what?” Ajax was confused.

“There is no way that at least one noble who watched the tournament didn’t sell the information to a foreign nation by now.” Benedict said. “And you and Lexi and new priority number one and two to be eliminated. Though I do have to admit I am curious which of you ranks higher.”

“Why the two of us?” Ajax asked, though he didn’t stop tracking the people following them.

“Your potential would mark you as a target nobody would like to let grow but I doubt all that much came out besides your age and weird fighting style. That was a really good choice you made getting [Enigma].” Benedict said. “As for Lexi, she is a pure multi elemental mage, nobody wants to meet one of those on the battlefield.”

Ajax knew why that was, unlike when multiple mages casted together a mage proficient in multiple elements could cast over a wide area without having their spells interfere with one another if they were just a little careful. For all of Anna’s firepower with her fire magic armies could take some precautions against her beforehand.

“I’m not surprised the royal family has people following us.” Lexi said with a laugh. “ I bet there are also specific counter-intelligence people following you and me looking to catch assassins and get information out of them, though good luck trying to find them.”

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“They’d be at least level one hundred and twenty and focused on stealth.” Annabeth commented.

Ajax was very conflicted about the information. On the one hand he didn’t like it that the royal family had put him under constant watch, on the other hand he did feel a lot better about having some high level people looking over his shoulder just in case assassins were sent out after him. He knew that this was one of the most vulnerable times in his life as he was pushing to grow his power.

Unlike his previous visits to the royal palace Ajax found that today his entire group was ushered inside without having to go through all the usual security measures. He also quickly found out that this was because they weren’t taken deep into the palace but just to one of the greeting halls.

“The crown prince himself is giving out our rewards.” Lexi exclaimed in her usual manner once they entered the hall.

They weren’t the first ones there as the crown prince was already talking to the top places from the second and fourth year tournaments. The prince however didn’t miss their entrance, his eyes hovering over the four of them, lingering a split second longer on Ajax, before he invited them inside with a nod and returned to the conversation.

While Ajax knew that his rewards had been substantially increased as part of the bribe to keep him from entering all six tournaments and winning all of them he was still surprised to see that everyone got their own personalised rewards.

“Welcome,” The crown prince said to them once they approached their little group. “I also believe that I owe your entire class a small apology on behalf of my son. He now agrees that he should have waited an extra year and not forced his way into this year’s class.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for Your Majesty.” Benedict responded as all four of them bowed in greeting.

From there the prince made a bit of small talk about the exam they had all just taken as well as the upcoming delve exam, all the while he handed out the rewards to Benedict, Anna and Lexi.

“Ajax if you’ll please follow me for your rewards.” the prince said.

“Got something to hide?” the fourth year winner asked Ajax. “Something to do with those curse attacks?”

While the words seemed confrontational the tone they were delivered in only showed pure curiosity and no aggression. That wasn’t to say that there weren’t a few antagonistic glares thrown his way from some of the other competitors but none of them would be willing to bring it up with the crown prince present.

“I’m not sure,” Ajax responded honestly. He doubted there was anything there connected to his curse skill but he did suspect that it might be something like that considering that they weren’t giving them out to him openly.

“The reason for the privacy is the amount of his winnings,” the crown prince explained. “A wager of sorts was placed with him in regards to winning the whole thing.”

“What sort of wager.” another of the participants asked, clearly jealous he hadn’t been afforded that opportunity.

“In exchange for an increased prize as well as his seeded spot in the tournament, the Baron agreed to only take part in the sixth year tournament.” the prince admitted.

“Why would the royal family agree to that?” the first boy asked. “You have to have known how strong he was.”

“That we did, but we were looking to avoid him carving a path through all six tournaments from an open entry position.” the prince explained. “As it is the sixth year tournament seems to have its winner locked in for the next ten years, we wanted to avoid having all the tournaments end up like that.”

That statement left the greeting hall quiet as a graveyard as everyone present thought quietly thanked the royal family for their foresight. Having Ajax dominate all six tournaments would have been a slap to the face to all of noble society and nothing good would have come of it.

While Ajax was collecting his tournament rewards, his exam results were already being analysed in a room by a number of powerful figures.

“He certainly has a knack for alchemy.” the king said as he looked at the perfect score along with the glowing recommendation professor Vilethorn had written. “Though he could do a bit better on his history.”

Ajax had just barely scraped by in history. “It’s not his knowledge of history that needs work, it's his attitude.” The king’s oldest son said as he looked over the test.

“What do you mean?” Balthazar asked, while both the king and duke Manashaper looked on with interest.

“He knows what happened and when, he just doesn’t know who.” The prince said with a laugh. “You had to break me of the same habit back when I was seven, never cared much for which general came up with the plan but I knew when the battle took place and what the plan was.”

“His etiquette was also unfavourable.” Duke Manashaper chimed in. “His introduction and greeting were spot on, but anything more advanced went right past him.”

“Not like he’d need them all that much.” Balthazar said. “That greeting and introduction will get him by for a while as everyone will let the rest of the things go since he was born a commoner. By the time that passes he’ll be strong enough that people won’t care anyway.”

“Perfect scores on both physical and magical combat, but that was expected.” the king continued. “A lot of near perfect marks in all crafting classes, that's certainly odd.”

“Previous experience.” Duke Manashaper said. “Overprotective parents from a young age, they had him go through every single profession he could apprentice under before they let him try out as a hunter.”

“Oh that’s new” the prince jumped in again. “Could explain his quick levelling if he gained a few skills from all of them. Good to see that he is focusing on Alchemy and not stretching himself too thin.”

“We’ll have to keep an eye on him now that he is done with his exams.” Balthazar said. “If he decided to go on a trip to other dungeons we need to have someone there in case he is targeted.”

“That’s already been handled.” the king said, though he turned a look to duke Manashaper “You’re having him skip the delve exam?”

“No point in him taking it, at least not this year.” the dean said.

“In that case I will let his house have an early delve slot for the coming week, best to give him options.” the king said.