I was expecting it. Apparently, the appearance of a “natural” blood mage sent ripples in Imperial society. The main Palace sent Sir Godfrey back with orders to take me there to see my father. In eleven years, it would be the first time Percival left his birth palace (officially, at least) and the second time I’d see my father in as many years. Talk about parental alienation. No wonder the princes become such deranged and hedonistic individuals.

I let the girls out of the Secret Garden and waved goodbye as I boarded an official carriage with the veteran knight. The vehicle was escorted by no less than twenty heavy cavalry riders, with full plate armor and barding on the horses. The mounted knights boxed the carriage as it set on its way. Appraising them showed they were all third-rank elites, members of the Emperor’s own knight order.

Each Prince could have his own knight order and they were encouraged to do so. We had a section on our palace’s budget that was entirely devoted to maintaining and training my knights. These were supposed to be my comrade in arms when I was sent to war. It was another concern I would have to address after the debutante ball. Recruit my knights, vet them, train and equip them. Noble houses would try to put their own men inside as double agents, it promised to be a lot of fun.

Fun for whom? That was not yet known. The jury was out but I had confidence in my personal style to vet and interview people for recruitment. If my new {Mental Magic} spells didn’t deliver reliability, I could always do the interviews posthumously. Nothing made a man more loyal than being literally granted a new life.

“What should I expect?” I asked him.

“The [Emperor] will have you demonstrate blood magic.”

“I got the Perk not a day ago. How am I supposed to cast a spell?”

“The [Imperial Magus] will teach you one, he said. He’ll also evaluate your talent in the matter. This is huge, Your Highness Percival. They might pressure you to change your Class. Make you a flimsy spell-slinger. Some are already blaming us for not testing your magical potential earlier.”

“That’s bullshit! How could anyone tell that?”

“The nobles don’t care. They’ll pin the mistake on the [Emperor].”

“I think they need to be purged in the [Emperor]’s name.”

Godfrey laughed. He had no idea how serious I was or that I was quoting geek stuff.

“Go ahead. You’re an [Imperial Prince]. The only person in the Empire that can censure you for anything is your father.”

“So, I’m above the law,” I remarked, annoyed.

“No!” Godfrey quickly corrected. “The [Emperor] is the Law, and nobody is above the [Emperor]. If our Lord will censure you for something you did, it is up to him.”

“Can the [Emperor] contradict himself? Let's say he rules in one way in a case, then the other way in another case?”

“Kid, the [Emperor] can do anything he wants. Remember to be respectful. He may be your father, but he is the lynchpin of the Empire. Out here, it’s not your mother’s palace. It’s the Empire, and the Empire is dangerous and merciless. You’ve been pampered your whole life, nobody dared raise their voice to you. But here, you’re just a level 3 kid. A [Prince], but still a kid.”

We kept our silence after that. Godfrey was correct. The Empire was not faceless but had no heart, no compassion. Whenever someone in power saw an opportunity to grab a bit more power without risk, that’s what they would do. They were predictable like that. And the [Emperor] liked it that way. It meant the nobles, the annexed vassal states, the generals, the knight orders, the temples, even the [Princes] were fighting with one another instead of trying to dethrone the [Emperor].

The [Assassin] you hired yesterday to kill an enemy shall tomorrow come for your throat.

But there I was, not a wolf but a chimera in sheepskin. I didn’t think I could defeat the Emperor at my current level but I had confidence I could deal with the politicians, nobles, and their cutthroat diplomacy.

The section of the city that occupied the space between the dozens of palaces for the Empire Royalty was all mansions for the nobility. Standards with House heraldry dotted each gate and wall corner. The mansions poked up from behind the walls, a myriad of styles, and another venue for the competition. A law stopped the mansions from growing tall enough to peek over the Royal Palaces’ walls, though.

A keen distinction. Officially, there was only one Imperial Palace, the one we were headed to right now. The [Princes] lived with their mothers (if she was still living) in Royal Palaces like ours. Each was almost as secluded as a foreign embassy and given that each of the [Concubine-Queens] was once Royalty in another country (if it hadn’t been burned and salted like fair Rasawaria), the analogy held water. Only the [Emperor] and those borrowing His authority could thread in one of these Palaces.

One exception was the day of the debutante ball. It was held in the Royal Palace, and on that day the Emperor moved his court to that Palace, to give the young prince an impression of how the Imperial court worked. The [Prince] and his mother would sit on each side of the [Emperor] as he held court. Once the session was adjourned, the ball started.

On that day, nobles could freely enter and visit the palace. Accidents were known to happen and staff abuse ran rampant. I had to get the girls strong enough nobody would attempt to mess with them before that happened.

It was a race against time. I had six months.

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The carriage reached the Imperial Palace. It was in the same place as the Mad Empress's former palace but it had been completely rebuilt. It was entirely covered with white marble, and the building along with its gardens and grounds went on as far as the eye could see. Tall spires sustained by magic rose about two hundred meters up in the sky. The building was breathtakingly majestic. It put pressure on the visitor because of its mind-boggling size alone. It put in perspective how powerful the [Emperor] was compared to anyone else. All this to stoke one man’s pride.

The very gates were ridiculously gargantuan. The walls reached fifty meters in height and the gate was tall enough to pass six carriages piled one on top of another. The gate tunnel was so long the middle couldn’t be seen from outside due to the shadows coalescing there. Murder holes for arrows, channels for pouring boiling oil, and multiple portcullises that could be dropped at any time dotted the passage. Crossing this tunnel was not for the faint of heart.

The inside of the gatehouse was swarming with soldiers. I could sense at least a hundred minds above us, more in the walls to our sides. Some were watching our carriage from behind the arrow slits.

On the other side of the ridiculously thick wall, another world awaited.

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A lot of people moved back and forth around the Imperial Palace, doing all sorts of errands. Nobody was below level fifty and several were doing something their peers would never agree to. An [Earth Mage] tended the gardens. A [Druid] trimmed the topiary sculptures. [Couriers] carried messages back and forth. A chorus of [Wizards] combined their magic to take down a building to erect a new one. To each person here, doing even demeaning work like scraping horse manure off the cobblestones was an honor. They were directly serving the [Emperor].

This kind of fanaticism was more like a cult. Maybe he was a God-Emperor. I knew for a fact his armor wasn’t golden, though.

The carriage took more than five minutes from crossing the gate to reaching the Palace. Scores of pages, maids, and knights lined up to receive me. Sir Godfrey got down first, then waved for me to step down. Even though they were bowing, their eyes were all on me, studying my every move to report to their hidden masters. Here, nobody was what they seemed to be and everyone served but one true master, themselves.

“All hail the thirty-eighth [Imperial Prince] Percival the [Imperial Lancer]!” Godfrey shouted.

It was a short introduction. As people grew and accumulated deeds or were granted lands and titles, they attached monikers and titles to their names, making each introduction an epic poem in itself. They made a game out of having the most impressive and long title lists. Woe to the [Herald] who forgot a single noble’s title. As one can imagine, introductions at a formal event were a bore. As nobles lined up to enter the venue, things never moved forward for hours as the [Ushers] needed to recite the litany of useless titles.

The Empire was utter madness.

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We walked through the labyrinthine corridors of the Imperial Palace. Sir Godfrey had a good idea of where he was going or there was some pattern he was following. After a few corridors with me watching him for cues, I noticed he looked at tiny engraved symbols in the columns at each intersection. These symbols indicated the direction to several places of interest.

He led me to the throne room. After talking to the guards at the door, we were introduced by the [Imperial Crier] (they slapped the term “imperial” on almost anything. I bet they had an [Imperial Latrine Cleaner] as an honest-to-System Class) inside the room. The doors opened and we walked in. The throne room had massive chandeliers hanging from above, with enough crystals to hide a dragon. Maybe a baby one. The room could hold hundreds of people and it made the several dozens of nobles that snatched the opportunity to be the first ones to lay their eyes on the fresh meat walking appear like a small group. A band of mages stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the throne where my father sat.

The [Emperor] was as imposing as the day I was born. Even sitting on his throne, his gaze felt like solar rays through a magnifying glass upon us ants. I could stand my ground only because I had ridiculous mental and spiritual resilience. A lesser person would be cowed into submission by that evaluating gaze.

Speaking of evaluations, the [Imperial Status Examiner] geezer was on a corner, guarded by a bunch of knights. If they were protecting the man or keeping him from running away was anyone’s guess. Or a job for the flip of a coin.

“My son!” My father’s voice boomed in the room, amplified by crafty enchantments. Probably the throne. It was where I’d hide the rune sequences.

I knelt. “Father. You granted me the honor of visiting me the day I was born. You granted me a name, a place to live, my life, a Class, and my titles. I am eternally grateful for that. Now I come before you a grown man. Look upon me, father, and see that the fruit hasn’t fallen far from the tree.”

“I see before my eyes the fruit of my loins. My son, an [Imperial Prince]. A man whose bravery, pride, ferocity, and honor are second to none. My knights told me tales of your righteous fury, my son. Before injustice, you didn’t hold back. Before humiliation, you made them feel the bite of your steel. Before your father, you are worthy. Arise, Percival. My son. My [Imperial Lancer]. A fine warrior who dedicated every waking moment to mastering his chosen weapons. To learn what it takes to be one with the Empire. Let none who witnessed the events of today speak ill of my son. To offend him is to offend the Empire. I grant you the title, [The Fierce].”

> > You earned the title fragment, [The Fierce…]

I changed my fake status from [Imperial Prince] to [The Fierce Imperial Prince]. As a reminder, I couldn’t set titles I hadn’t earned, as the System was iron-clad in these aspects. If you saw a title on someone’s Status, you could be sure they earned it the hard way. But this new compound title sounded like some child’s book name for a silly character but the only thing silly in this place was how some nobles chose to dress.

The [Emperor] could not grant titles at idle. Especially not the types that went into one’s Status window. That he did so to me meant he truly favored me and that he wanted it to be known by everyone present. He also said it in all words at the end of his speech.

“I am grateful, my father. I have no wish in life other than make you proud of me. I’ll strive to be a man among men, a worthy [Prince] of this Empire. Let none speak ill of the Empire before me, for they’ll get to know the business end of my spear.”

The [Emperor] chortled. “Well said, my son. What a fierce lion I brought onto the world. I’ll order my enchanters and smiths to craft a weapon worthy of you, my son. It shall be my first gift to you.”

He doubled-down on spoiling me. I could see disbelief in some nobles’ eyes. I straightened my back.

“You jest, father. A weapon is but a trinket compared to the two biggest gifts you ever gave me. The [Emperor] gave me life. The [Emperor] granted me his blood, for the fire that burns in my veins couldn’t be from none other. I gladly accept your gift, father, and I know it will be a mighty weapon. I shall wield it in your name alone.”

The [Emperor]’s grin shone with pride and amusement. I hadn’t a clear profile of him but if I had to guess he was eager to see how I would maneuver the Byzantine politics of his Realm. He had no idea. I hated this imperial aristocracy. If I was allowed to walk my way, I’d pave it with corpses. I would kill so many of them that they would tremble in fear at the mere thought of getting anywhere near me or mine.

“Your Imperial Majesty,” the leader of the mage group said, breaking the silence. “We need to test the young [Prince]’s magical talents.” He stole a glance at the examiner, who shrunk until he bumped into the guard behind him. “And see if what the [Examiner] said is true.

And if I could give the first step, this [Wizard] would be the cornerstone of my highway.