20.

"What a surprise. I never knew that you would come here of your own volition." Gilltian said with a tinge of mockery on his voice.

"Well, I'm here to make a request with you." I said with a little smile.

"I knew you would never visit your Uncle without ulterior motives, speak." Gilltian said while I laughed.

"I want something that piqued my interest inside the Royal Vault to help me strengthen the border." I said with a serious face.

"You're already preparing for it? I already told you, most of the artifacts inside the vault are useless items." Gilltian said. He already knew what I'm talking about. As an Emperor, he had a lot of information about the state of other Kingdoms in the west. With the Empire currently weakened by the Civil War, he instinctively knew that another war is incoming.

"There's no such thing as useless if you know what to do about it. As for the preparations, I've started preparing for it. Its also the reason why I didn't participate in the Civil War. To preserve my forces and deal with the incoming war with the Western Coalition." I said to him and he paused for a second to think about something before looking at me.

"What would I get from this request?" He asked me about what I will offer.

"Magic Cannon." I said and my words startled the Emperor.

"W-what did you say?" He asked me again.

"I will offer a Magic Cannon in return. Although I will give it after the war with the Western Coalition. What do you think?" I asked him. In truth, I don't have any magic cannons on me. But the blueprint of its core was inside the Royal Vault, that's what I aim to get inside the treasury.

"Where did you get the magic cannons?" He asked me but I just smiled in return.

"Is it from a ruin?" He probed for more information but I just smiled and didn't give any information about it.

Magic cannon is a product of combining the knowledge of technology and magic. It was a weapon used to decimate enemies on the field. Unfortunately, its records and its blueprints were lost in the passage of history in time. That's why magic cannons are something that the Empire craves.

'If my memory remembers correctly, a complete blueprint of the magic cannon would be retrieved in a shadow world as a reward for clearing it 5 years after the Civil War. Although it was indeed the magic cannon blueprint, its can only be built within the walls and an immobile one.' I thought and looked at the Emperor for his answer.

"Fine." Gilltian sighed and gave me his seal.

I quickly retrieved the blueprint from the Royal vault. The one guarding the vault made way after making sure that the seal was the real deal and its not a counterfeit.

I went to the garden and saw two girls talking to each other.

"Looks like you two became friends in a short time?" I asked with a smile.

"Mm. Big sis told me interesting stories... but they're not as interesting as big bro's stories." Felicia said honestly and Adjest seemed to be irked about it and glared at me.

"Oh my. What a scary face you're making there~" I said teasing her further. Adjest sprang up and I simply avoided her sword swings.

"Are you playing with us too, big bro?!" Felicia seemed to treat it as playing and wanted to join in. Because Adjest is acting like a mad dog, I could easily predict the trajectory of her swings even before she put strength into her swing.

"Anyway, I've got what I wanted. We're going outside, Felicia. Mad dog, do you want to come with us too?" I asked her as I ducked and dodged her swing.

"Big bro, her name is not mad dog, her name is big sis Adjest. What's a mad dog anyway...?" Felicia said and thought what a mad dog is. Hearing Felicia's words, Adjest calmed down before glaring at me one more time. She sighed and completely calmed down.

"I can't my teacher is coming any second now." She said feeling a little sad. Sad that her new friend already has to leave.

"My, my. I didn't expect to see your highness having fun." A voice resounded and I followed the trail of the voice and I could see a beautiful woman with a blue cape draped over her shoulders.

'Who would've thought I would see her here.' I thought as I appreciated the beauty in front of me.

"Oh my, don't you think its inappropriate for a child to ogle at a lady's assets?" She said playfully.

'She's an unrestrained temptress. In the future, her actions seemed have mellowed down a lot, and what I mean by a lot is exactly that. Is it because of Desir and became a mother figure for him?' I thought as it was plausible.

"I'm just appraising art." I said shamelessly. Felicia didn't understand what I mean so she haven't said anything and kept thinking what a mad dog is and what it looks like while Adjest felt threatened and glared at me.

"You seem to have a way with your words, child." She walked towards us and she bent her legs down to face us eye to eye level.

"If I didn't, Blackwood would be gone from my grasp." I said and she looked surprised about my words.

"I see, you're Duke Blackwood. Its a pleasure to meet the Duke. My name is Bridgette, a commoner." She said and was about to stand up to give a bow but I stopped her by putting a hand in her shoulder.

"Its fine. I don't really care about noble traditions in an informal setting." I said and when she loosened up, I removed my hand in her shoulder.

"Thank you, Duke Blackwood. For taking care of the commoners in the midst of the conflict." She said to me sincerely.

"Its nothing. They made me look like a competent ruler while I gave them better lives. Its a win-win situation between us." I replied modestly.

"Now then, if you'll excuse me. My little sister and I will be roaming around the Capital for a bit. It would've been great if someone will show us the way since we're not a local here." I said while making eye contact with Adjest.

Bridgette seemed to understand what I'm trying to say but she don't know whether she'll follow along or not.

"Its just a day of studying, isn't it? Its not like you would turn dumb if you miss a day of lessons. So? Would you like to come with us?" I looked at Bridgette and Adjest. They looked at each other for a few seconds before making a decision.

"Fine. You win, Duke Blackwood." Bridgette said with a helpless smile. Felicia seemed to have heard it and was elated and pulled the absent-minded Adjest.

"Let's go out and play!" Felicia said as she dragged Adjest.

"Looks like you're a good brother, Duke Blackwood." Bridgette said with a smile.

"I had to maintain my image of a good brother in front of my little sister." I said smiling at the sight of Felicia happily play with Adjest.

"Looks like Duke Blackwood has his own secrets too." Bridgette said to me in a serious tone.

"We all have secrets, Ms. Bridgette." I replied in a calm tone.

"I can't argue with that." Bridgette said and thought of something.

"Shall we get going? A day won't be enough to roam the Capital." I said and the dazed Bridgette woke up from her thoughts.

The four of us left in a carriage. I could hear Uncle Gilltian's anger from a mile away.

'He must be mad for taking away Adjest without permission.' I thought before talking with the people inside the carriage.

We roamed the Capital around with Bridgette in the lead. She would show us the famous places of the Capital and the stories about what made them famous.

Bridgette was the most surprised along the trip. She never thought that a noble of a Duke's origin would try out hawker's foods like it was a normal thing for me. She even saw me persuade Adjest to try it. When she asked me why, my answer surprised her.

"By trying out the hawker's food, you would be able to tell about the state of their household. Are they living well? Or just scraping by? You could tell by the quality of the ingredients they use. Anyway, let's stop talking about complicated stuff and just enjoy this little trip we organized." I said to her. Bridgette only heard a little details from me and she was impressed on how I used the hawkers to determine the state of a territory.

The day quickly passed by and Bridgette had to return to the academy first since she's still a student. We then returned to the Royal Palace and Gilltian immediately put me in a headlock and started lecturing me about the danger of what I did and I just let him bully me. He's stronger than me anyway, I can't do anything about it. A man, or should I say, child, should know when to advance or retreat.

Idom came and fetched us with a carriage and led us home. When I returned home, Felicia was a little sleepy from our little escapade and I had her rest in her room.

I walked to my room and saw Wilhelm waiting for me.

"How's the preparations?" I asked him and he just nodded at me. Wilhelm followed me into the room to talk about our next move.

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Let me know if there's a mistake

for example: My life.