“Even we don’t know about the true strength of the King, his family hasn’t been in power for over 5 centuries by fluke,” Duke Ansul commented,

“Even we only know so much about his true power base,” Duke Plantagenet added.

‘Is the king really too powerful’ “Then why are the duchies not afraid to attack each other in his absence?”

“Two reasons, first it weakens our power base, and second it legitimizes his rule,” Ansul laughed

“Legitimizes his rule?” Fred was confused by this,

“There is peace while he is present and instability in his absence,” Duke Ansul answered.

“I see,” Fred didn’t think it was good to threaten instability of the realm like this just to solidify his rule but,

___

Fred had to leave the hall to get ready for the party,

Fred felt like it was going to be an eventful party, he was currently sitting in the manor of his grandfather, talking to Isabella, “What do you think of this marriage proposal, mother?”

“Only the best can marry my Fred,” She hugged him in a playful manner,

“Mom, I am trying to be serious,” Fred sighed, this marriage would have a huge impact on his future, and whether or not, he could deal with the ramifications was an entirely different matter, to begin with,

“I know honey, this will be a huge commitment and may cause unnecessary problems, but I believe you are more than capable of dealing with what is to come, and if you are having any difficulties, then you can always come to me,”

“And me,” A familiar voice came from behind, when they turned, they saw Edward standing in the doorway,

“Edward,” Isabella greeted with a smile.

“Father,” Fred followed suit with his own greetings, albeit less enthusiastic than Isabella

“It looks like a big day for you son, you’re getting engaged to the princess of the kingdom,”

“Yeah,” Fred responded in a less than happy tone.

“Cheer up son, this is just a new opportunity, if you are smart about it,” Edward said cheerily,

“I understand father” Fred acknowledged.

___

It was time to attend the party, Fred was more nervous than usual, he had experience with girls in his previous life, and was a married man thrice in his past, but this was a political marriage decided for him, without his input, not only that, his wife probably also wasn’t consulted on this matter,

There was an order to attend, with those of lower-ranking entering first, and each member would have their names called out as they entered. Fred was close to the last to arrive, although he didn’t have official status, he followed his parents by ranking, and entered with them,

“Harold had shown up earlier to the party, he was now considered an adult, and an adolescent Barony, it was a false title given to those who weren’t given land yet, with the purpose of allowing them to focus on gaining experience or military merit. When he heard Fred’s name called out far after he had arrived, his attitude grew dark,

Harold was hanging around with his fellow friends near a wall, “Hey isn’t that your bastard of a brother,” one of his friends called out.

“Yes, to think they allowed such a disgrace in,”

“Haha, well they let you in didn’t they,” a voice Harold found irritating was heard from behind.

“Ha Jackson,” Harold turned around, “I thought you were busy playing in the savage lands.”

“Oh, Harold, you should have come, it doesn’t matter what you think of the lands up north, what matters is that I now outrank you with my military achievements,” Jackson laughed.

“Outrank me, keep dreaming,”

“Oh, yes, Harold, while you have been stagnant in your rank over in Iberia, and are still a level 4 squire, I reached level 5 and got promoted into a trainee knight level 1,” Jackson laughed.

“Level 1 trainee knight,” Harold was shocked. When they became of age for military service, they would start out at the lowest rank of their profession, for knights, it would be a squire, “Impossible, you were only there for less than a year,”

“Yes, but I participated in battles for most of it, increasing my military level as well, however, I heard that you didn’t participate in any battles except for the odd skirmish with the Dwarves, and even then, you left it for ‘lesser men’ that is why you are falling behind.” Jackson had kept an eye on the nobles from his generation so that he could focus on seeking opportunities to get ahead.

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“You just got a lucky break, I will be ahead of you soon, mark my words,” Harold said with gritted teeth before storming off with his cronies,

“Did you have to rile him up,” Ronald said behind Jackson,

“It was just a bit of fun, but it would be better if he made a fool of himself, I’m just fanning the flames,” Jackson said,

“Why?” Ronald asked,

“The dukes are starting to look for successors, to increase their power to keep up with the king they would need to start looking for replacements, they, nor we can afford the same antics that happened from the king’s absence,” Jackson commented,

“Why? the king is powerful, but he is just one man,” Ronald said,

“Look, you didn’t hear this from me, but the planar gates that both our king and family have access to, they get stronger if the user is of higher rank, it would allow us to pull more resources from the planar, as well as summon our vassals in the other plane,” Jackson said

“Wait, the planar gates are proportional to the strength of our dukes, I thought it was to do with the material it was made off?” Ronald asked

“In a way, yes, but it requires a strong individual to control it.” Jackson answered.

“But what does this have to do with riling Harold up?” Ronald asked.

“Because of the faction he is part of, whoever becomes the next duke, would give his faction a high-power boost over the other factions,”

“The traditionalists, you are targeting them?” Ronald was shocked,

“No, you fool, I’m too young to do that myself, I am only targeting their juniors,” Jackson sighed, “we are just creating small opportunities for our elders to use against them.”

“I see, my dad had left me out of the political talk, but had only started talking with me about it last year,” Ronald said dejectedly

“Relax, we are just making petty scuffles amongst kids.” Jackson reassured Ronald “I’m sure your dad will get you up to speed with the ongoings pretty soon,”

___

Fred walked into the party with his family, when they were introduced a lot of stares were directed in their direction, some friendly, some hostile, a few hostile ones were also aimed at him, when he looked over to one of the directions, he saw his brother, and just sighed at this,

He then saw Jackson walk over to Harold, followed by Ronald, only for Harold to walk off angrily a few seconds after, at which point Jackson and Fred made eye contact and nodded to each other, with a smile, ‘what was that about’ he wondered,

‘it’s a big party,” Isabella said, she wasn’t used to crowds as big as this, especially as she was one of the last to arrive, she had her arm around Edward on his left while Janet had hers around his right arm,

“Of course, this is the first party like this, at least held by the dukes, your son is quite imaginative to think of something like this, it should go down a treat for the noble circles,” Janet said,

Isabella and Fred looked at each other sheepishly, Isabella knew where he had gotten the idea from but wasn’t going to explain.

They moved over to an area of the room where Thomas, Jacques and Jean were standing, Fred was standing with Rudy and Delphine when Jackson and Ronald came over.

“Good evening, Fred, Rudy, Delphine,” Jackson greeted, followed by Ronald, the three responded in kind.

“So, you’re a special man, Fred” Jackson joked.

“I feel more like an art piece put on display,” Fred scanned the room finding lots of people staring, or disguised pointing as they talked to their peers,

“Well, you are big news, and well, you haven’t exactly hidden yourself.” Jackson joked.

“I know, I know, it’s just a bit overwhelming, I mean, I didn’t have a single say about the proposal,” Fred moaned,

“Isn’t that normal, my parents are in talks with a potential suiter right now,” Ronald exclaimed.

“Huh,” Fred looked to find Jean who was originally talking to his parents only to find that he had disappeared. He scanned the room to find Jean in a corner, with his wife, talking to another couple,

“I see, and who’s the unfortunate girl,” Fred quipped, receiving a bout of laughter at Ronald’s expense,

Ronald sighed “She is over there a couple of meters to the left of her parents, the one in the blue dress.” They all looked over to see a petit figure, with blond hair, talking within a group of girls.

Fred felt she was a bit young, but his standards were not of this world, plus, they probably wouldn’t get married for a few years anyway,

“Well, she’s pretty, you lucked out there,” Rudy commented,

“It’s not confirmed yet, but it looks like the proposal will be accepted,” Ronald commented.

Then the announcer spoke up, and a set of trombones started playing, “Please welcome, the crown prince Charles Francis along with Princess consort Soraya, followed by their son Prince Louis and Daughter Princess Yasmine,”

The room gave a round of applause,

“Yasmine, that’s not a Franconian name,” Fred asked.

“That is because her mother isn’t Franconian, she is High elven,” Jacques commented,

“Wait, What,” Fred was shocked.

“Her mother came from a High elven royal family, in the holy land,”

“I thought they would hate us for taking their lands,” Fred said,

“No, we used to be subjects of the Empire, the Western Heavenly Empire invaded from the northeast, causing the empire to lose their hold over these lands, the Eastern Empire still has a somewhat good relationship with us, and it’s mutually beneficial to have the alliance to curb the Western empire,” Jacques explained.

“In fact, the royal family were once a royal family of the empire, they are mixed blood, about a quarter high elven,” Ronald added,

‘Bloody hell, I haven’t been learning this at all in history,’ “Damn, I must have skipped too many classes,” Fred commented.

“Same here,” Rudy responded with Delphine nodding along, it looked like he wasn’t the only one not in the know,

“No, you would have learned it in the senior years, only we went to war instead,” Jacques joked,

As they entered, Fred noticed a beautiful tanned, bronze-skinned woman with dark glossy hair she looked Persian, but there was something mystical about her, then, following was a smaller version, similar appearance, but with slightly lighter skin, and a brown glossy hair,

Fred was slightly mesmerised by her looks, he was used to seeing beauties, but these two definitely left their marks. The boy was closer in looks to his dad, with the same Lightness to his skin and hair, like his father, and facial features of a Franconian.

“So, she is presumed to be my fiancé?” Fred asked.

“Yeah,” Jacques said with heartache, he had become smitten over her looks.

Fred felt like he was waiting for the punchline, she was indeed beautiful, too beautiful, and wait, wasn’t he getting married to a royal for the purpose of gaining the Astartes race, would it work on a half-elf.

Fred was confused by this whole situation.

While he was mulling over the fact, the announcer, announced the entrance of the Dukes and King,

The party was finally underway, with Fred mulling in the corner about this situation,