After his return from the Empire Ajax’s day to day life settles into a repetitive schedule of studying and training that is only interrupted by delves and the occasional party. He had a clear goal, the tournament, and this time his opponents will be the best of the best selected from people twice his age.

Whereas Ajax’s life got a lot simpler the exact opposite is true for Judy, Alana, Elija, Aurora and Silvia. Ajax’s return from his months-long trip marked the end of their new noble protection. The reason for this was obvious, simple greed. While Ajax’s exploits in the dungeon were considered a secret to protect, the massive influx of crystals along with the acquisition of not one but two of the Empire’s exclusive transport worms was too much.

Unlike Ajax’s battles when a merchant faction engaged in a fight it was usually stretched out over months as many small moves were being constantly made by one side then the next. It all started with a united front by most factions to make it hard for them to quickly make a profit on the new crystals they had just gotten for themselves. Fluffy reserving all the shadow attuned ones for eating didn’t help matters much either.

For the first time in decades Elija had started to see a quantitative increase in his experience gain as the casual game he used to play with most of his contacts turned serious at every negotiation.

The only large faction to stay completely neutral in this affair was the Goldmancers. This trial by fire was a hallmark that all noble merchant companies that operated on a scale larger than a single city went through, if they survived they were good enough to join the big leagues. Having a house be considered at that level so soon after receiving their title however was unusual.

The first big challenge that House Hearthbound faced was finding a tamer to work with their newly acquired worms once they were sufficiently grown. While the worm's novelty made them a huge attraction it also meant that only the higher level and skilled tamers could actually train them, a commodity that was easy for others to deny them. Elija still had to physically restrain his eye from twitching every time he thought of the amount he paid for the tamer in the end.

The other great change that the nobility as a whole had to deal with was first attempts at replicating Ajax’s success when it comes to forcefully increasing stats. The exact method was being kept secret for as long as possible so it hadn’t yet been spread to the common populace but Ajax was assured that it was only a matter of time in order to give their upcoming generation an edge over other kingdoms who would surely copy them once it was public knowledge.

This particular change was met with mixed results from the nobility. While some were ecstatic to try out a way to get stronger, most of the children weren’t pleased when told to wait five more years before spending their hard earned points. The biggest reaction however came from the families that had their own coming of age traditions that now became impossible without spending the stat points.

Another big change that came to the Hearthbound House during the end of Ajax’s second year was that both his brother’s and Kate’s mandatory service period came to an end and they took a much bigger step in not only building and training their combat and healing retainers but also leading them. Both of them gained a couple Uncommon leadership skills.

Over the course of his time in the Academy the biggest change for the family was still Ajax himself. While he had always been a bottomless pit when it came to grabbing mana infused resources but as he got more and more practice and his skills increased the bottomless pit started to give back.

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It had started off slow with the beginning of Ajax’s third year in the Academy as he became able to refund half of the cost of the materials he used in his alchemy experiments by selling the successes. By the end of the third year Ajax had gotten good enough that his work would break even every time.

By the middle of his fourth year at the Academy Ajax had finally gotten consistent enough that he was being headhunted as a delving alchemist. His extensive experience with crafting inside dungeons complimented by an ever increasing track record of successes had more than one or two noble families offer Ajax expensive materials and a spot inside their delve slot in exchange for him crafting them stat potions.

That wasn’t to say that Ajax wasn’t still emptying his Houses coffers as during both the end of his second and third year he raided the family vault in order to hire boosters so he could delve as far as he could in every single dungeon that existed inside the borders of the Empire.

Despite their individual growth, House Hearthbound was still one of the weakest noble houses in terms of actual power. The collectors were still their strongest retainers as they simply hadn’t found any others that were stronger and they were willing to trust. Theron had also emulated his lord with his daily training and was actively closing the gap, getting closer and closer to being good enough to earn a permanent spot in the Collectors line up.

One of the funnier changes that were seen throughout the years came in the form of Ajax’s odds when it came to the end of the year tournament. Betting houses were giving insane odds for him to lose but by his third year his odds given by betting on him to win the whole thing from the start were less than a 10% extra on your money.

The spectacle was interesting during the second year tournament and it still got a few chuckles during the third year. By the fourth year tournament the nobles had started complaining about Ajax not only winning but doing so effortlessly. More threatening being that he would be able to keep up this dominance for another seven more years.

“Do you really intend for the boy to represent us in the upcoming tournament?” one of the dukes asked during the weekly meeting of the court.

With the tournament approaching the king's announcement made a few years back has turned from a joke used to motivate a talented youth into reality, a reality not all nobles were ready to embrace.

“I have no issue with granting Baron Hearthbound one of our three spots for the tournament.” The king said softly. “Should you have a more worthy candidate I will give him the spot.”

“What makes a candidate more worthy?” another noble chimed in. “The Baron has already made substantial contributions to the kingdom.”

During the past five years Ajax had gained more than one or two supporters in the political arena. Even more surprisingly was the fact that his father was the one who did most the work in obtaining these supporters.

Unlike everyone else in the family Sam wasn’t talented enough or that dedicated to blacksmith that he could simply dive in it for the last five years. Instead Sam had focused on keeping the family united and connected while they each did their own thing. During this time he would invite one or two of the young nobles who were trying Ajax technique to visit and get a few tips from the source.

“All they have to do is beat Ajax in single combat.” the king said looking to placate.

A long moment of silence passed over the camp that objected to Ajax’s participation. Much as they might not like him some rumours of how deep in the dungeon he was delving were starting to pop up here and there and they were terrifying.

“Your Highness, he is not even twenty-five years old. It would be seen as an insult.” Seeing their main avenue of attack cut off the nobles tried another way.

“It may seem like it at first but all doubt should be washed away after the first battle.” the king’s eldest son chimed it.

“What about the balance?” another noble tried. “Someone in their twenties even competing could damage the fragile balance we have now.”

“The nations are more stable than they have ever been.” The fear of war argument had been made plenty of times in the last few months as the departure drew near and it had never been successful but they were running out of reasons.

“The elves need this win, everyone knows they are still hurting for gold after their last king. Is provoking them such a good idea?” A new angle was brought forth, ignoring most of the other nations and focusing only on one.

“All our participants will be encouraged to trade away any winning to the elves in exchange for some benefits.” the king wasn’t placating here as his tone showed his decision was final. “It seems like Baron Heathbound will be maintaining his spot as no challengers were put forward.”