Crazy Family

Seeing how curious his second brother was when he asked such a question, Makai nodded, "That's right. It's possible that someone thought of this method of cooperation before..."

"However, no one has ever heard anything related to this and it is possible that they attempted a secret cooperation, were discovered and exterminated by the royal family..."

"Now we are in a different situation. Everyone knows that sooner or later, the Avalon Empire will set its sights on our realm. When the time comes, how will the Starfall Realm survive?"

"Clearly, the royal family will use us, military duchies, as cannon fodder, but what about the duchies belonging to the Left Party? They don't have armies and their borders are only protected by the Mercenary Guild. A mixed group of various mercenaries who only serve to escort trading caravans cannot compare with the unified armies..."

"While it is true that we resisted in the War of Kings 100 years ago, don't forget, our main enemy was the Kingdom of Gusman and not the Empire of Avalon, as they had entered a period of consolidation and sent only a few Baron families who yearned for on military merits. If the Avalon Empire had sent its top elites..."

Makai did not continue talking about what would have happened if the Avalon Empire had sent their elite cavalry back then, as everyone was aware of it, and he continued to say, "We can use this as an argument when sending a Letter of Petition to the Royal Court."

After saying what he thought, Makai watched his family members who were pensive.

Looking at her nephew who she had never had any contact with before and who looked like a serious man, Suelen was increasingly interested in Makai and asked curiously: "My little nephew, what is a Letter of Petition?"

Makai already expected someone to ask, but when he saw that the one who asked was his beautiful aunt and hearing the tone of her voice that contained a charm of seduction along with her mature and sexy figure, Makai controlled himself not to have a reaction, especially when he heard her call him small. He couldn't help but think, "Where am I little? I'm only 15 years old, but I'm already 1.78 meters tall. Also, my body is well defined and I'm well endowed down there..."

Although Makai had such thoughts, he still had a serious face as he faced his Aunt Suelen and replied, "A Letter of Petition is where we will express the perilous situation the Starfall Kingdom finds itself in and that the two great noble factions must unite to strengthen its borders as it prepares for a possible invasion of the Avalon Empire..."

"Furthermore, what will happen if abyssal forces invade our Vita Continent, as they did when they invaded and conquered the Haoran Continent 300 years ago?"

"See, even the Haorians who considered themselves the rulers of Lazerorth still lost the war because they were too proud and did not prepare for such situations..."

"Is it not right that we should learn from their mistakes and prepare in advance?"

"I believe that using such arguments in the Letter of Petition, the royal family will not be able to object..."

"However, for this to work, we still need the signatures of all duchies. Even if the royal family finds a reason to refuse, we can still cooperate as long as at least the military dukes sign and agree to form an alliance..."

"As I said, the duchies of the left party have no reason to refuse and they will certainly support us, as what they most want is to form their own military forces. Even more in the face of a possible invasion..."

"As for the military, I also have no doubt that they will agree..."

"If the royal family still accuses us of rebellion, I don't believe they will start a war against us, after all, who would be their cannon fodder against the invaders? A civil war is now what the royal family least wants to see happen."

Makai looked at his aunt with an expression that didn't intend to continue talking.

Hearing the meaning of the Letter of Petition, Suelen's blue eyes were bright as she said, "This letter seems to be very viable, but what if some duchy refuses a cooperation and doesn't sign it?"

Many members of the Collins family also seemed to have the same doubts, as they nodded in agreement upon hearing Suelen's words and watched Makai as they waited for his next words.

Makai seemed to expect such a question and quickly replied, "If one or more dukes refuse, it means they've decided to stand against us and the royal family will have a valid argument to accuse us of rebels..."

"Even if they accuse us of rebellion and send their armies, are we military families afraid of war?" Makai looked serious when he asked.

Hearing such a arrogant tone from Makai, the Collins family members looked dismayed and thought, "Does this young man think he is the Duke Marvin to be so arrogant and speak words with such confidence?"

"Hahaha..." While everyone was still stunned, the Duke Marvin finally couldn't contain himself and laughed out loud attracting everyone's attention.

After laughing heartily, the duke looked at Makai with a smiling face, "Good boy. You are indeed my son and you think like the father..."

Then he looked at the other members seated at the table and his face became serious as he continued, "Initially, I intended to tell everyone that the problem we are about to face is the same problem that happened to our ancestors..."

"I didn't expect Makai to have seen this and still thought of many solutions..."

"Your ideas and this Letter of Petition seem to be even more viable than the plans I had initially planned..."

"I intended to only seek the support of the military forcing our way across the Left Party duchies without caring whether we would be seen as rebels or not, as I do not care and do not fear war..."

"However, after hearing the words of Makai, I changed my mind, and let's follow what he said..."

"I know that many still have their own doubts, but I don't want to waste any more time on this and I will bring up the matter of choosing my heir or we will spend the whole day arguing here."

Saying such words, the duke didn't wait for anyone to speak as he raised his left hand, took off his black glove revealing a silver ring on his ring finger that glowed faintly and a black sphere the size of a clenched fist emerged in the palm of his hand.

Then, he rose from his chair and dragged her to the left side of the hall, placing her next to the chair of his first wife, Vanessa Barth.

After sitting, he extended his right arm placing the sphere in the center of the table and his right hand covered by a black glove shone as he injected some of his life energy into the sphere. As he was wearing a glove, no one in the Collins family had managed to notice the orange color of his vital energy, otherwise, they would be surprised.

From Makai's point of view, it wasn't until his father stood up that he saw that the duke was wearing a set of black clothes with a long red cloak covering his back. His height was at least 1.90 meters and his body looked quite robust and strong.

When Makai saw the shining silver ring, memories of his predecessor were processed in his mind and he knew that in the world of Lazerorth, there are no existences of mages, but there are Knights who follow the path of a Sage Knight and who are not suited for combat, for they cultivate in their palaces the way of a Wise Knight, where in their palaces rests the silhouette of a brush that represents knowledge.

Knights who follow the path of a Sage Knight are primarily scholars who are devoted to exploring universal laws and the creation of runes. They are also responsible for creating many technologies.

In addition to cultivating internal energy through training and combat, knights can also cultivate by absorbing the vital energy contained in vital energy gems that can be found in vital energy-rich gem mines.

However, for large families and factions that have mines of vital energy gems, for example, still face the mastery bottleneck in a Knight's path, that is, upon reaching the peak vital energy of a certain Knight Realm, he will still be trapped in that realm if there is no advancement in your mastery.

The current Makai is stuck in basic sword mastery with 99% proficiency, even if he fills all vital energy from the current 30% to 100%, he will not be able to advance to a Bronze Knight if he doesn't advance his mastery to the advanced sword.

Likewise, Knights following the path of a Sage Knight face the same bottlenecks, and only when a Knight on the path of a Sage Knight reaches the level of an Epic Knight does he master the laws necessary to create rings of spatial storage.

Knights in the path of a Sage Knight who reach the realm of an Epic Knight are not easy to find, as their bottlenecks are even harder to break and the space rings are extremely precious.

The silver ring inserted into the Duke's left ring finger is clearly a space ring.

However, it is different for this small sphere that the Duke took out and can be created by a Knight in the way of a Sage who has reached the realm of a Bronze Knight, as this is one of his many inventions for practical purposes, known as the Geographic Globe.

After the Duke injected his life energy into the Geographic Globe, from where there was a small opening of the sphere, there was a strong glow inside it and a curtain of golden vital energy was projected on the back wall of the hall facing everyone.

Inside the projection screen inserted into the wall which is dimly lit by the candles of the silver candlesticks, the entire topography of the Crimson Duchy was clearly seen by all.

"As all of you are already familiar with the topography of our territory, I will be direct..." The duke's voice was still low, but it reached everyone's ears very clearly.

Makai was in awe of the exploits a mighty Knight can have and thought, "He is using his life energy to make his voice reach everyone's ears. What Kingdom of Knights did this father of mine reach? So mysterious..."

The duke continued, "I have said before, my heir must be the one who can earn the most merits. While it is true that there is no war now, if I followed my earlier plan to force my way through the left party duchies to cooperate with other military duchies, when that happened, it would surely provoke many wars and I would use them to see who among my children would excel in them..."

"However, as we are changing the plan, I will assign them to administer a proper territory. We will adopt the system of administration used by the nobles of the left party..."

"Whoever among my four childs stands out the most in managing their territories by expanding trade, accumulating wealth and strength within 5 years, will be the one who will inherit my title of hereditary duke."

Upon hearing the duke's words, although they had already expected something similar, all they were still surprised.

Makai wanted to laugh at their expressions but still had a serious look in his eyes as he watched each member of his family look at each other as if wondering if they had heard correctly, but the duke didn't give them time to argue: "You heard right..."

"Starting tomorrow, Ferdinand, Jason, Jennifer, and Makai will each depart with a small entourage of Knights who will be their own forces and move to manage their new territories..."

"Even if no other dukes sign the Letter of Petition, I will still follow that plan in promoting trade, and if we don't have partners to cooperate within the realm..."

"I believe the Jackals in the west will be only too happy to cooperate with us..."

"While I don't want to use that last method, I'm not going to sit around and wait for my family to perish in the annals of history like so many others have..."

"If the royal family accuses us of rebellion, I want to see who dares to lead an army to my borders..."

"My sword has long cried out for blood."

The duke's tone was full of majesty as he finished his last words and the gleam in his eyes suggested that he couldn't wait to rebel and go to war.

Suddenly, a strong atmosphere filled with war intent thickened the air inside the hall as every member of the Collins family seemed affected by the duke's words and their eyes were bright with anticipation at the rebellious thought of going to war against the kingdom.

Feeling such an atmosphere, Makai thought: "This family... It's a crazy family..." Then he chuckled, "But I like it."