Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 545: The problems of the emperor v

Silas spoke to him, saying if Arial dies the next day, with so many hidden dangers in the Empire, the new ruler would be preoccupied with all of the problems that it would not be long before the stability of the Empire would be threatened. 

And once the stability is rocked, then the decline of the Empire begins.

Hence, Silas had always advised him to strengthen the foundation of the Empire that even if he were to die, the rock on which the Empire stand would not even shake.

These hidden dangers that Silas referred to is the Old Noble factions, the Conservative faction, the spies from other kingdoms, the disgruntled lords and kings, the opportunist that waited their moment and so on and so forth.

If Arial were to create an eternal empire that would be able to stand through the test of time, he must eliminate these hidden dangers first. 

Slowly but surely, then it would be time for the Empire to rise without any interference.

Silas at first advises him to stay. 

But when it is apparent that he would go regardless of anything, Silas had decided to turn the crisis into an opportunity. Arial smiles when he thinks of this subordinate, this old friend. Silas had always been vocal on his opposition to take Zettel like that. He was so vocal about it that he left the court.

It took him years to persuade him to return back to the Imperial Court. Arial knows Silas. He is cunning and he is unpredictable.

He is not as loyal as Leander and his plot and scheme is usually very layered. But, Arial still put his trust on Silas and gave him the keys to the Empire. Because Arial knows him better than most people. 

Silas likes money. He likes his wealth and he likes power. But, there is a limit to his liking. He prefers peaceful methods than a cruel one. 

Though he is capable of doing cruel things, it is not that he likes doing such thing. It was necessary, so it was done. Silas wants many things in life. But if there is one thing he did not wantit is the seat of the Empire.

All of that love for wealth and money, it is all for him to have a peaceful life. 

Power is useful to him because Silas knew what would happen to him if he has no power. Money and wealth is important to him because without money and wealth he could not enjoy the finer thing in life.

But, the Imperial throne is not something that Silas would covet. Silas is the closest man to the throne and he had advised kings and Emperor so he knew how hard it is to live as king and Emperors.

That is not a live he wanted. And that is why Arial did not hesitate to give the keys to the Empire to him.

His journey is the perfect bait for those hidden forces

After all, this bait is real. 

Arial is really not in the Empire right now. 

Though, he was concerned with the other parts of the plan. 

It is clear that some of them diverted from their original plan. He did not expect that there is a fallout between his daughter and his sister

After all, he had never thought that his daughter would come out of her tower and then get involved with the matter of the Imperial Court this early

Even though he is on another continent right now, he could not help[ but think of the matters of Eden.

When he thinks about the matter of his succession, he was always in a dilemma. 

Ariadne was his daughter. She should be heir but Adriana had proven to him that she is not only resourceful, she is also very capable if the Empire was to be put under her charge.

Choosing a woman as the heir might gain some objections from the court since Eden is not Renasia but it is clear from this conflict between his sister and his daughter that the lords of the Empire no longer cares so much about the gender of his heir. This is also probably because Arial himself had no male heir.

If he did however, then even though Ariadne is the first in line for the throne, she would be skipped in favor of the male line.

Arial himself had no desire to marry again so he had been thinking of this matter in the past. But with a dragon heart, he could actually live a pretty long time so the matter of succession has always been delayed.

Of course, not many people know that he had a dragon heart in his chest so they did not understand the casualness he had when thinking about the matter of the succession.

And that is not the only concerning thing he had read from the report. There is also the possibility of Renasia moving into the territory of the Empire.

It seems that people also had known that Rhyssa is not in the Human Continent right now.

The Mother of the Empress had mobilized the Imperial Court of Renasia to move the army to the border of Seren. Seren is now under the Empire. Arial was shocked when he heard of this

Suddenly, there is a possibility of Renasia and Eden to be entangled in a conflict because of the new border.

The fact that his daughter accept the capitulation of Seren might be seen as a provocation to Great Renasia.

This is because it appears like the Empire is taking Seren to fortify the Empire position. And with Seren under the Empire now, the Empire now have ability to quickly mobilize the army to attack Renasia. 

Seren decision to capitulate to the Empire might stem from their desire to not be the buffer state between the Eden Empire and Great Renasia

He could not help but click his tongue when hearing about this. Seren Radiant Rulers had chosen a way for them to not be stuck between the two great powers and that solution is joining one of them

But he was also worried that the conflict between Renasia and Eden would break out. And he felt guilty because of this matter. Rhyssa had followed him.

He did not know how to feel about this.

He still felt quite perplexed at this. And there is a worry in his heart regarding her safety. She is a curious woman, he thought to himself

For some reason, he could not forget that eyes that he saw during the Ball.

He worries about her. He was concerned about her. And he hoped that she is safe

He had hoped she went back home after seeing him taken by that Thunder Eagle. 

But for some reason, Arial believe that she did not go back home. And the news that he got from his two generals confirmed this.

The world knew that he is not in the Empire and the Empress is not in Renasia. And so chaos is now enveloping the entire human Continent

The position they have and the impact they have on the Human Continent is ever reaching that it could affect the situation of the world easily. 

Arial could guess why Renasia suddenly ramp up the defense on their borders. He did not think that Renasia wanted to provoke Eden into a war. After all, he knew how close his mother is with Rhyssa mother. 

Empress Dowager of Renasia probably wanted to prepare for any crisis that might erupt now that the people knew that the Empress is not present and also disappears.

This is the worry he has. but he knew he could not do anything about this worries right now. he sighed and he said to himself

'I should focus on what I should be doing now. I must not distract myself by thinking too much'

he himself could not believe the kind of life he is living right now., He felt like he is inside in some kind of an epic story where gods and demons exits and he is the hero in the quest trying to fight evil. Like an epic battle between good and evil, between light and darkness.

He could not help but feel how absurd his life has been lately. 

He had decided to open the ancient gate and fulfil his destiny. Whether that destiny would be his end or not, it didn't matter

He is tired. Tired of his life and tired of everything. Death would not be such a bad thing.

He had contemplated of sending news to the outside world and inform the people of his empire

He even had the thought of choosing his successor in the possibility that he would die fighting whatever he is supposed to fight here in the New World.

He knew that if he lost, the world would be engulfed in darkness. Then those visions that he saw might become a reality where people are sacrificed to the darkness.

But, he at least held the hope that even if he dies, then at least his Empire could minimize the damage of the Darkness and at least have some time to prepare to either run and waited until the next Ages prophecy or hiding for safety

But the barriers that had suddenly covers the entire continent seems to discourage any message sending.

Even the magical ones. 

And most of the area of the shore is now filled with Sea Monsters that could easily wrecked ships so no one would be sailing those waters for a long time

Arial could attribute all of this to the current weird phenomenon that is happening all over the New World

Monsters appears out of nowhere. 

Some of them are called Mudborn, a monster born from the ground, some of them have other names like Shadowspawn and many other types of monsters.

It is said, in the past, during the ancient era where Gods wander upon the land, humans had to fight against these creatures that is born from Darkness and they won

Arial wanted to win. But, he doesn't know if he could win it or not. If he believes what the lore had said about the Final Battle, Nasrana would die. 

There is this fight inside his heart. 

One of it was for him to keep fighting so that he could live. The other part of him wanted to lay down his armor and his sword and accept death as his rest.

Hope. 

That is the only thing he could do right now. 

He then focus his mind on his objective. 

He knew there is still many matters that he need to solve before he could let it all behind him 

But he also knows that just by thinking of it, the matter would not be solved. What he should do right now is slowly solving the problem and the matters he has one by one.

He would surely find it not be too hard when he solves it one by one.

He averts his gaze from the open window and close it. It seems that he had really been thinking for a long time. 

He had been standing beside the window for almost an hour, his mind is still swimming with many thoughts

The wind blows, the clouds moves and the moon shines it lights to the ground. 

Tonight, the night is bright. The occasional wind that breeze by would move the clouds and every once in a while, these clouds would move and cover the moon

Then it would be dark again

His thought become even more chaotic and he shakes his head. He rubs his forehead. 

' I should take a walk outside the palace to clear my head' he thought to himself. He decided to go to the barracks. He wanted to see how his soldiers are holding up