With the king’s oldest son in attendance all of the main tournament participants were in the enchanted carriage. Only a single participant from the under level one hundred was here, the other two choosing to stay in their own carriages, the king didn’t much care as this didn’t pertain to them as much. All three of the under fifty year old participants were here however as this was mainly about them.
“This here is the peace treaty I signed decades ago when accepting the Republic’s offer for peace.” the king started. “Many thought that I got the worse end of the bargain and there is a reason that I never made the treaty public. That reason is the opportunity we have now to fortify our future.”
As the king said this all of the participants were listening closely. Ajax, having already been promised a delve inside the Republic's dungeon, could guess what the intangible the king bargained for were.
“There are quite a few details but it all boils down to this. We are allowed an almost full raid group to enter each of the Republic’s four dungeons. The only restrictions on the group is that one of the participants is a booster, that they are under level one hundred, and that one of their people joins the group inside.” the king explained.
Half the carriage erupted at the news, despite the golden opportunity most were in fact outraged at the fact that a spy would be sent along. Ajax’s initial reaction was also one of rejection, his ingrained habit of hiding his ability rising back up. But after a moment that rejection diminished.
His hard work over the last few years as he attended the Academy had allowed him to reach a high enough level of power that he wasn’t the easily removable target he had been before. Sure there were plenty of people who would have no problem killing him but doing so in a quick or quiet manner was no longer the case. More than that Ajax knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back during the tournament and he didn’t plan on it, so what if the Republic got a bit of a preview if it meant more dungeons to clear and more stats to gain.
“SILENCE!” the king's oldest son didn’t have to shout, the glowing locket around his neck amplified the word making everyone shut up. In all the years Ajax had known the eccentric prince this was the first time he had seen him drop his usual jocking persona in exchange for the veteran warrior he was.
“The forty-eight spots have already been assigned, my son has offered his services as the sole booster we will be sending.” the king continued in a calm tone after the silence had settled. “These individuals are the most promising talents, some of which have already managed to visit more foreign dungeons and I am hoping will build stronger foundations than even our current champions.”
Much as he appreciated the words Ajax knew they were only partially true. It’s true that doing this had been the king’s initial plan when he signed the agreement but his current actions weren’t in line with the plan.
In order to build the strongest foundation for a new generation of champions Ajax knew the king should have waited another few decades before chasing in. Nobody else besides Ajax and the royal family were aware of just how successful Ajax’s method had been with the young nobles and the first batch that started practicing it when Ajax first published it were now turning fifteen and spending their points.
Before he had spent his points Ajax had managed to close in on getting seventy points in every single stat. Nobody has yet even come close, and most likely nobody would but the general consensus was that almost all had managed an average of forty in each stat with hard working ones getting as high as forty-five.
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While that may not seem that high in increased on the average the nobles would get of seventeen in each stat by age ten by twenty-three points. Even if one accounted for the twenty to thirty points nobles would get during the apprentice period it was still close to a hundred and fifty more stats in total. The crown was now making plans to spread this out from high nobility to all nobility in the next decade and to all commoners within the next century.
The reason the king wasn’t waiting to prop up this upcoming generation with higher stats was simple: he was betting a lot on Ajax, how powerful he would become, how strong of a deterrent he would be, and what kind of leverage having someone like him will allow him to provide for the others following behind.
The one regret Ajax had when it came to having shared his training method was the extra pressure it was placing on Anna. Unlike Benedict who would have his father be the head of the House before him, or Lexi who’s family head position didn’t matter that much as they weren’t landed Dukes and their power came from the spells they had knowledge of. Anna would have to face pressure from experienced and older branch family as well as the next generation growing stronger from the extra stats. He was glad she was able to take advantage of an opportunity like this to close the gap.
“These spots weren’t sold.” the king continued. “Each of you have been awarded a position based on your reputation and feats. That said all of your spots have been insured by your families.”
This took Ajax by surprise. He was the head of his House, no way something like that would go down without him being told. Even more so nobody from his family would accept the contract and then not tell him about it. He didn’t know what was going on.
“What do you mean the spots are insured?” The son and heir of a small Baron asked.
The man was in his fifties though he didn’t look older than his late twenties. His progress had come, managing to reach level seventy-six before turning fifty. This despite his less than stellar family financial situation.
“Depending on your level each of you is expected to clear and gain the reward from one or two floors from the Republic more unfavorable dungeons and two or three from their main dungeon.” the king continued. “Boosting potions will be provided for you as will gear should you need it, but failing to earn the expected minimum would mean that your family will be charged for the full price for the slot you took up.”
This threat sobered up most of the youth present. The joy they had experienced moments before at gaining an opportunity that would bankrupt a Viscount for free was washed away with the cold knowledge that failing to show results meant their families would need to pay.
The sole exception to this was Ajax, he now realized why he wasn’t included. There was no chance he was going to stop with one, two or even three floors. While some were looking to gain the stats from seven cleared dungeon floors to maybe ten if they were lucky Ajax was hoping to get that many just from the main dungeon. The punishment conditions all but didn’t even apply to him.
“With that said, is there anything else of immediate concern?” the king asked.
A few of the youth had questions about how the expectations would be set, clearly expecting them to clear two floors from a dungeon with a eighteen level jump would be suicidal for some of them depending on where on their current level fell in regards to the floor benchmark. Ajax ignored these questions, they simply didn’t apply to him and he instead focused on Lexi leaning against him.
With the meeting over about half of the nobles were getting ready to leave the royal carriage, despite the opulence and comfort present here it also came with the pressure of being in the presence of the king and some of them would rather relax their mind on their journey even if the trip was a bit more bumpy.
“One last warning before you leave.” The king said as the first nobles neared the door. “I know that some of you have your own views on things and that is your right. For the duration of MY stay in the Republic, any of you who are found to be using any form of racial slurs will be unceremoniously sent back to our kingdom.”
This warning actually made Ajax frown. Not because it was in any way addressed to him but because of the memories it brought up of the last few years. Despite most of his time during parties being taken up by his classmates as the head of a House he had been expected to mingle with some of the older nobles on more than one occasion.
It wasn’t very often but a few times during his discussions with some of the older and lower ranked nobles that he had found out that some in the kingdom still held similar views to the Empire rhetoric. He had learned enough about noble etiquette to not make a scene at the party but he had quickly removed any dealings he or the rest of the family had with any of the nobles who made any views towards Kate or Jake. It only took a few months before his stance was widespread and nobody brought it up again around him but even those few encounters left a bad taste in his mouth.