25 Gilgamesh's Plan

Early in the morning, Gilgamesh was in his bedroom balcony, gazing at the sunrise with absolute calmness on his face as if the previous events had not been part of his concerns.

No one had noticed the assassin of Prime Minister Darius Silva Ganius, but these were only speculations by Gilgamesh since no one had come to visit him after that.

At that moment, not only Simon but everyone around Gilgamesh's life was trying to read his thoughts. If killing a Sword King could be attributed to luck, then what happened the previous night was purely his skill that allowed him to kill the prime minister.

Fate was unpredictable, but one couldn't be lucky twice.

However, Gilgamesh had now proven himself to all the noble families and sent a strong warning that shook the foundations of the Asura Kingdom. This message was simple: anyone who crosses his path will be exterminated, even if they belong to the same royalty.

"Brother, where have you been all this time?" Ariel entered hastily, followed by her personal guard. The concern displayed on the princess's face was more than fake, and her worried attitude was not entirely truthful.

She was here to find out what Gilgamesh would do with their elder brother Grabell, who was supported by the faction that had sent them to assassinate Gilgamesh the night before.

"Sister, I appreciate your concern, but there is nothing in this world that can threaten my life, let alone kill me. Before you go, there's something very important you must know. I don't want you to stand in my way. If you know something of importance to me, tell me. And lastly, stop acting like a fool in front of me. That mask you wear with the nobles won't serve you when you talk to me."

Gilgamesh calmly sipped his tea, looked his sister in the eyes, and said, "If you come across my brother, tell him I don't care about this wretched throne of this kingdom. But if he continues to insist in front of me, or his henchmen point towards my belongings, I will take this throne and clean up all the filth in the families, streets, and corners of this place."

Ariel, who saw that look on her brother's face, shuddered a bit but with a cheerful smile, said, "I'm sorry, brother, I tend to do it without thinking. If I see our brother, I'll give him your message, then I'll take my leave."

"Princess..." The man beside Ariel looked at the young prince Gilgamesh, frowned, and followed the princess.

"Who would have thought she's such a skillful manipulator..." Gilgamesh murmured these words with a smile full of interest. Indeed, all the nobles in this kingdom are a bunch of degenerates.

At that moment, heavy footsteps reached Gilgamesh's ears, and he said even before the other party entered, "My lord, one of the slaves you took wishes to speak with you. She insists on seeing you."

Simon bowed before Gilgamesh and greeted him respectfully. He had heard what had happened last night and was astonished by the details, reaffirming his wise choice of having chosen the fourth prince as his lord.

"Ah, of course, I wanted to speak with them myself, but if someone is already here, tell her she may come in." Gilgamesh liked the initiative of this woman who wanted to see him; it indicated that there were capable women among the heap of bodies that had been saved.

After a few seconds, footsteps sounded, and a woman of around sixteen to eighteen years old entered, followed by Simon. She was a blonde with short hair and sky-blue eyes, possessing a beautiful figure that could be the envy of many women and the downfall of men. However, in Gilgamesh's eyes, she was just one beauty among the many he had encountered.

"Take a seat, and I'll pour you a drink." Gilgamesh extended his hand towards the empty seat, and the woman nodded with a calm demeanor. She closed her eyes and took a seat in an elegant manner, displaying her noble upbringing in a single action.

"Now tell me, what is a noble doing as a slave to a pig?" Gilgamesh's naturally cold eyes scrutinized every aspect of the woman in front of him, as if he didn't want to miss any detail.

"My name is Tristina Purplehorse; I am the daughter of House Purplehorse, a noble family of this kingdom. I was abducted when I was eight years old and forced to serve Darius as a slave ever since." Tristina lowered her gaze while gritting her teeth with uncontrollable anger, but she stopped herself upon realizing where she was.

She looked at the prince Gilgamesh, whom she had never had the opportunity to meet before, as he had never appeared in public, even at Ariel's birthday party, where she had attended with her family.

Gilgamesh spoke of Darius, "He was indeed a greedy man, a pity he was so weak as to withstand only twenty swords on his body... I should have tortured him more, what a shame."

Tristina immediately said, "I appreciate that you saved us from that hell. Now the only thing I can do to repay the favor is by serving you as a slave..."

Gilgamesh rested his face on his right hand, looked at Tristina as if she were already part of his property, and smiled even more when he heard those words from her. His face displayed an amused and noble expression, so he said, "You can return to your family if you wish; you don't have to force yourself to serve me when I only did what I believed was right that night."

"Eh?" The words took a different direction than what Tristina had anticipated. She had decided to serve Gilgamesh, believing it to be a better option than any other available to her. However, this response had never crossed her mind.

"It hasn't been many years since you were abducted. You can go back to your family and spend some time with them. The traumas you have can gradually fade away, and there's no need for you to serve if you don't wish to." Gilgamesh's sincere words left Tristina speechless.

She was fortunate that Gilgamesh wasn't interested in her body, unlike other nobles in this kingdom. However, what she didn't know was that everything was going according to the plan he had formulated for his future moves.

As a prince Gilgamesh, he needed the support of some noble families, and one of them that might be interesting to have as support was the Purplehorse family, who would be grateful for the return of their daughter with all her limbs intact.

Why did he need a noble family to follow him?

Naturally, Gilgamesh could do everything on his own and with much greater ease, but that would require all his available time, something he disliked. That's why a family of knights could serve as an initial stepping stone, as they would take care of his primary needs from now on.

What he sought after today was to train a select group of individuals to look after his possessions, protect what mattered to him, and create his own domain without being tainted by the thinking of outsiders. When he returned the lost daughter to that family, he would analyze if they were worthy of her and validate with his own eyes if that house was of his importance.

Tristina would be his golden hook to obtain everything he desired. But before that, he needed money, and of course, he didn't want to ask anyone for it. With thousands of ways to acquire money, there was one in particular that was the quickest and most effective. Although he had gold in his vault, he lacked economic knowledge in this world, so he would auction off some of his belongings.

This way, he would have sufficient funds to create a progressive plan and depend on his private force to carry out his wishes more easily.

Gilgamesh tasted the strawberry tart and said, "I've already sent a letter to your father; they should be here no later than tomorrow. If you believe you don't need them, once you meet with them, you can start following me and, in the future, assist me with my business."

"Yes, I thank you, prince Gilgamesh." Tristina still seemed somewhat stunned by Gilgamesh's response.

"Does anyone else know that you killed the prime minister?" Tristina asked, concerned for her benefactor.

"Choose your words carefully, girl," Simon said with a fierce expression on his face.

She understood that what she had said was wrong and wanted to retract it, but Gilgamesh shook his head and said, "They don't know the exact details, but no one should know about this. Nevertheless, even if they did, no one could do anything against me. Well, you should prepare yourself because your family will arrive at my mansion in a few days. For now, I bid you farewell; I have some matters to attend to as soon as possible."

"Thank you very much for all your help, prince Gilgamesh. I will never forget it." Tristina bowed gently and took her leave from Gilgamesh, who only smiled at this gesture.

With a plan to go to an auction house, Gilgamesh left the mansion in the company of Simon, who simply did his job as the prince's shield.