187 chapter 40

Since the little shenanigan with the Free City State Republic has been solved, Leonard found himself to have quite a bit of free time now, since there was nothing much to do- other than coping up inside his dungeon with an undead Lich to do some research on volatile "elements", of course there were some minor setback along the way- such as things randomly blowing up etc, but in the end they were just setback.

*knock *knock *knock

A sound of knocking on door interrupted Leonard and Naz'rith thought process.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Young master, his grace has requested for your immediate presence." the sound of a woman- likely a maidservant, told him from behind the thick wooden door.

"What's the reason?" Leonard asked her as he finished up drawing the last circuit that would connect a runic letter on a dark energy stone.

"I do not know, young master, his grace was just asking for your presence in his study." the voice called out for him once again.

"Alright hold on for a moment, let me finish this up."

The moment the connection was made, the crystal began to glow dimly for a short moment before calmed- which Leonard then casually tossed into a basket on the side, which filled to the brim with many of these crystal.

"!!!!" seeing how casually Leonard tossed the crystal into the basket and made that clunking noise, Naz'rith freaked out for a short moment before his undead natured kicked in and calmed him down.

"Young master, please don't do that again, you don't know what kind of chain reaction that might caused if a circuit were to be damaged! The best case scenario is this entire building might be erased from the very fabric of reality!" Naz'rith reminded him.

"Oop, sorry~ I totally forgot… we're dealing with dangerous stuff." he shrugged.

"I swear, you are probably going to be the cause for my second death."

"Stop mucking around it too much, even if you were to die again- I'll just summon you back from the realm of the dead, since you are technically a LICH now, a denizen of that realm." he smirked before taking off his coat and hung it on a rack and left through the door, where the maidservant was currently waiting for him.

"Also- finish up the last batch of "grenade" for me will you?" Leonard quickly reminded him.

"..." the Lich Naz'rith just stared blankly at Leonard figure for a short moment before letting out a long, depressing sight. "Since when does being dead become so...taxing?" he lamented.

*****

When Leonard arrived at the office where Erik has requested for his presence, he knocked on the wooden door to informed his father,that he had arrived.

"Come on in." the voice of Erik called for him on the other side.

"Then excuse me for the intrusion." Leonard pushed the door open and enter the room.

The moment he entered the office, he was greeted by the sight of Erik, having a tense expression plastered all over his face.

While he was surveying the office, he saw a stranger sitting on the couch and enjoying some teas without a care in the world.

The man himself had long blond hair, just like that of his own, he could also see that he look quite young as well, late twenty maybes? He had an air of nobility hang around himself.

"Ah~ so arrived at last." he put down his tea cup and smiled at Leonard.

"...who are you...do I know you…?" Leonard asked the man as his brow was furrowed, trying to dig out the memory of this person from the previous owner of the body.

"Hmmm~?" the young handsome man then turned his attention toward Erik.

"You didn't tell him about my own identity and the blood that ran in his vein?" the young man questioned Erik.

"Father, what is he talking about? And who is this person? Why are you calling me here?" Leonard barrage Erik with questions that needed to be answer as he was confused.

"Leonard, have a seat...I'll tell you...about a very important matter." Erik pointed down to a couch that was on the opposite end of the young man.

"Hmm…" Leonard sat down and pour a cup of hot tea for himself before he turned to his father and then toward the young man who was constantly smiling at him.

"Leonard, I've been hiding a lot from you, since the day that your mother left me… us…" Erik told Leonard, his eyes was full of longing feeling and trace of conflicts.

"You already know longs ago from me, and everyone else that your mother had died after giving birth to you right?" he asked Leonard.

"What are you getting at?" Leonard narrowed his eyes as he looked at his father.

"What your father meant to say was… your mother is still alive." it was the young man who sat across Leonard that spoke up this time, instead of Erik.

"Hmm! Once again, who are you? And what's your purpose here? How are you related to any of these matter?" Leonard voice was cold as he looks at the young man in front of him.

"Oh dear me~ I apologize for the late introduction, I am Augustus Welser De Romanii...and yes, it is that Welser, I am… your eldest brother." The young man introduced himself.

"...wait what? You are that mysterious eldest brother who was never at home or in matter of fact- disappeared for years on end since the day I was born?" Leonard looked and inspected the man who claimed to be his long lost eldest brother closely, before turning to his father, Erik for a confirmation.

He was indeed curious about the "Eldest" brother that he had, but never seen throughout his entire life, not that a man who claimed to be his brother was sitting across from him, Leonard was stupefied.

"It is true, he is indeed your brother- related by blood, and of course since you already noticed it by now through his name, he is indeed related to the royal family of the Romanii Empire… in fact- he is the fifth prince of the empire…" Erik told him.

Upon hearing the confirmation from his father, Erik- Leonard was shell-shocked, it was like having a bomb dropped on his chest- but he doubts even if a bomb where to drop on him now it wouldn't do much harm to him anyway- it's the psychological effect from those words that manage to get through to him.

"Why are you here then, your...highness…" Leonard snapped out of this thought and quickly turned over to his "brother" and asked him.

"Of course, to bring you to visit mother of course, and let you recognize your lineage- for you have come of age and passed a certain power requirement… it is only fair that I bring you out and let you see the world out there… don't look at me like that, father had been updating me on the situation of the kingdom and about you for a very long time already, to be honest, I was really surprised by your recent changes, I thought you were hopeless since the beginning." Augustus took a sip of his tea after he finished his sentence.

"Does Vandal know anything about this?" Leonard asked his father, Erik.

Only to find that the answer to the question was a big no, as Erik shakes his head.

"So...what will happen to me now? Are we going to the Romanii Empire? Then what will come after that?" Leonard asked his "Eldest" brother, Augustus.

"Well we'll get to that once we arrive at the imperial capital, for now- just pack up, we are leaving soon and of course, I don't mind you bringing your…*ahem, significant others along for the trip, I just want to let you know that...I'm proud of you, my youngest brother…" Augustus smirked at Leonard with a grin that contained a deep meaning behind it.

"You...told him everything about me...dad?" Leonard stared at his father, eyes wide open, the feeling of great betrayal can be spotted within them.

"Well~ I have no comment…" Erik broke out in cold sweat as he diverged his gaze away from Leonard.