Princess Eloise

[Princess Eloise]

The Princess had met with her older brother. As the third princess, her fate had completely shifted the day she awakened grade 4 talent, something that was incredibly rare in this era. Becoming Magus Anderson's disciple, she had bloomed in all aspects.

Beside her beautiful and feminine physical appearance, she was an incredible mage focused on the pursuit of path. Unlike bloodline path acolytes, she was a true mage, a truth seeker with knowledge, craftsmanship and unique trump cards. Although she was definitely thankful for the Moonfall's support, she looked down on them.

Her master reminded her: "You must trust the Moonfall household on this. They are betting everything on the expedition, and if you don't work together with them, then it will be impossible to face Magus Rutherford and Magus Steelguard's disciples"

The princess titled her head: "Aren't they only advanced rank acolytes?"

Magus Anderson shook his head in disappointment: "It seems like I have sheltered you too much. You have close to no battle experience, and I am positive that Jakar the Swordsman lives up to his reputation and could beat you without his sword. Battle prowess and cultivation are two different things. Just because you have a lot of fuel, does not mean that in combat, you can bring out your full potential"

The princess sighed: "I know...I am truly grateful for the Moonfall family, they are only helping brother because the Second Prince has been supressing them for the past decades. They know that they will be annihilated if the Second Prince becomes King"

Magus Anderson nodded: "Things are not as simple as they look like. Although their patriarch is not participating, they have sent their 5 elders. Each one of them has contributed greatly to the sudden rise of their household. They are definitely good assets to have in the expedition, especially the alchemist of theirs. I have purchased a couple of hemostasis potions and strength elixirs in the past, and I was flabbergasted by the quality. How could such a small family give birth to such an alchemy talent?"

The princess rarely heard compliments from her magus master, so she smiled: "I guess they were not expanding just because of the Elderwood Household's fall. They are quite strong themselves. However, they remain mere bloodline acolytes. They have naturally high growth, but without knowledge, they can only cast their innate spells, making them very dependant on them and inflexible"

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Meanwhile, Drake and his party were arriving in the capital.

After five years of making deals with acolytes, completing special orders for the sake of building connections for the family, he had gotten a glimpse of the magical society in the Porfield Kingdom, and he had been greatly disappointed.

Besides a few wandering organizations that thrived on resource points they monopolised, only two magus households existed: The Moonfall Household and the Fireheart Dukedom. After all, the third one, the Elderwood family, had fallen already and its remnants became absorbed by the Fireheart Duke after the war.

Royal Mages were not very strong, mainly due to the lack of legacy. The Magi from the Royal Court were very strong, but they had no sense of belonging. Most likely, they used the kingdom's resource in exchange for serving the crown, but they had no interest in growing an acolyte force in the kingdom. After all, it would not benefit them.

Drake realized that magi were much rarer than he originally thought too. Neighbouring countries only had a couple of wandering acolyte organizations. Few kingdoms possessed magus households that had survived the passage of time and the decline of magic. The Empire in the South was different. According to Arthur who made a trip there to purchase magical resources, it seems like there were dozens of magus households, all of them much stronger than the current Moonfall family, with sometimes one or even two magus leading the household.

'Ten years...Perhaps twenty years...Even if I don't manage to get a lot of magic ingredients in the pocket dimension, as long as I continue manufacturing elixirs, I will be able to purchase enough magical herbs in the Phoenix empire to learn and brew the breakthrough elixir necessary to produce a magus in the Moonfall household'

The Patriarch, the princes and the various elders of the family all saw the inheritance war as a decisive battle to rise and avoid destruction.

Drake only saw it as an opportunity to test his combat skills and monopolize resources from within.

Although it would definitely pressure him and the family if the Second Prince were to win the war, he would not go so far as to get rid of a Magus Household. And even if he decided to attack the Moonfall family, the Patriarch had shared with him some key knowledge: There existed a magus-level array in the Ivory Tower that could reduce the Magus-level existences to acolyte-level. With the Patriarch's combat prowess, even the Royal Magi would not dare attack the Moonfall Household.