Everything According to Keikaku

"I object. Father, I want to become the heir of the Aurae House," with a determined expression, Valnyk stared straight at Varlam.

Minutes of silence followed, nobody spoke because Varlam himself stared at his son with no words spoken. Rather than a surprised or shocked face, Varlam was serious.

"Val, you are only eight years old," yet, he still didn't retort Valnyk's previous declaration.

"Age is just a number, I'm stronger than anyone here." Valnyk argued back.

Many were skeptical about this, even those closest to Valnyk's mother and sister were also not sure about his statement. Varlam on the other hand, personally saw what Valnyk was capable of.

"I wanted to solve this quietly, however, it seems we have to draw blood," someone in the room spoke up. It was Aaron's father, who conjured some water spells aiming at Varlam.

"The Royal family thinks that you are incapable leader Varlam, you are no longer needed for the noble house of Aurae." Aaron's father shot a water arrow towards Varlam, who stayed quiet and waited for a moment.

Arrow rapidly made its way towards Varlam, but abruptly stopped when the man just caught it with two fingers.

"Since when did you get balls to fight against me?" Varlam raised an eyebrow and frozen in his hands the arrow broke in half.

Aaron's father only looked at his supporters with begging eyes, however, he only saw cold sweating running down on their faces.

"What are you doing?! Attack!" he shouted desperately. Still, nobody dared to move, why would you ask? Unlike Aaron's father, they could feel bloodlust gushing out from Varlam -- it was directed right on them.

"Don't bring shame on yourself, leave the room on your own." voiced Varlam and took a step forward, making his way to traitor.

The Royalty made a secret deal to bring down the current head of the noble house, this was a pathetic move to protect their pride and take control over the family, without damaging their reputation with citizens. Although their reputation was already severe, losing it to the point where citizens wouldn't pay taxes was no good.

"Father, don't kill him yet. He will serve as a messenger to the Royal Family." Valnyk's smug voice rang out in everyone's ears.

"This is ridiculous, he will request help from them." Varlam retorded.

"That was a good joke because if they could they would already take over our house. The country, which is entirely built solely on taxes, will only crumble from internal conflict. Do you think they will mess with us?"

Everyone was taken aback by Valnyk's thought process, logically speaking he was stating undeniable facts. It was as though he was talking like he was already the leader of Aurae House.

"Take the money given to you by Royalty back to them, tell them that Aurae House is no longer going to follow the pact." the young Aurae finished with a serious expression.

Now, this wasn't a joking matter, the pact which was created back on the date of country formation stated that the two noble houses made a pact with Royalty to nurture the strong magicians in every new generation to later become the Lance.

This wasn't known to many, however, Valnyk many times overheard his father and mother talking about this title. The messengers of the Royal family haven't revealed essential information, but it didn't matter anyway, as Valnyk concluded everything himself.

"Sis, are you against me being the leader?" he then turned towards his sister and questioned.

"I was at the beginning, but this changed my opinion. You have my full support." stated Varay with a nod.

"So, from today onwards, Valnyk Aurae is head of the Aurae House." declared Varlam and started clapping, soon his actions were followed by Vanessa and Varay.

"Why aren't you clapping?" Valnyk with a dangerous smile glared at others in the room. Of course, everyone started clapping, since the intent to kill in his eyes was no joke.

"What will be your first command heh?" the father asked his son, with a little smirk. The smirk faded after hearing Valnyk's next words.

"I'm revoking our noble status!" he shouted excitedly, the rest of the nobles were shocked. In contrast to Valnyk, they didn't know his reasons for revoking the status of noble.

"What why?!"

"I'm using the chance to pressure the Royal Family and lower our expenses on taxes. Isn't this a brilliant idea?" It was hard to believe that an eight-year-old kid could think of that, but someone still retorted.

"But they will confiscate our lands!"

"They could try… if so, they will meet and greet the same fate as my father's leg." Valnyk joked, but nobody laughed at it.

"You are a little crazy." Varay said to his brother.

"This is called 'thinking out of the box."

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"What do you mean they are revoking their nobility status?! Are they out of their mind?!" The King of Sapin Kingdom shouted slamming down his hand on the table.

"Your Majesty, this letter is coming directly from the Aurae House." the messenger responded.

"What about Aaron Aurae becoming the new head of the house? Did they play a trick on the Royal Family?!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Unfortunately, the new head of Aurae house is Valnyk Aurae, the son of Varlam Aurae." the messenger stated calmly, not minding the heated outburst of Blaine.

"Huh?! That problematic kid again! Send another envoy, so be it. If they want problems, they will have them!"

"Your Majesty, this might lead to major problems. If all of the Aurae House agreed on appointing Valnyk as the leader, they must be prepared for consequences; who knows what they might have prepared upon their sleeves." one of Blaine's advisers spoke up, trying to change his mind, but in the end, it was a fruitless attempt.

"I don't care, they are now getting out of hand. They had a pact to follow, but they suddenly got their own will to decide what they'll do. Bring Varlam and his family here by force," with the declaration, Blaine left the room angrily.

"How foolish, he'll only get in trouble. The House of Aurae is no joke." one of the advisors spoke up.

"You speak like you know them." one of the guards voiced.

"Of course, I speak as someone who witnessed the glory of Varlam Aurae. Even with a bad injury, he can take on hundreds of you, lazy royal guards. Someone even says that his son is even more monstrous."

"Don't joke, old geezer." the guard laughed.

"Anyway, if a conflict were to break out, undoubtedly the kingdom would be split in half." said the advisor as he took his leave.

"We'll be the ones to handle it anyway, this dude can't solve shit," the second advisor said, earning a chuckle from the rest.

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"Was there any announcement past these few days?" Valnyk questioned his new assistant while reviewing papers in his hands.

"There was no announcement made by the Royal Family." his assistant quickly responded.

"Hmm, as I thought they wouldn't work openly. Everything is going according to my speculations... well, it's time to think about other matters." he put aside the papers and put his hand on his chin.

"How's our business doing? Income compared to the previous month to be exact, were there any changes?" Valnyk peeked at his assistant and asked once again.

"There were changes, income decreased with the Royal Family's interference." answered the assistant, Valnyk hummed in response.

"Meh, pathetical attempts. Let's go, I have a new plan." he stood up and motioned for the assistant to follow him.

Already outside of his office, while they were walking towards a certain room, Valnyk decided to break the silence.

"I still haven't asked for your name."

"My name is Rehmer." Valnyk didn't mind the informal response of his assistant, it was actually the opposite. With Rehmer, he could finally be free from the chains of nobility, even though they aren't nobles anymore, others still considered him as the lord.

"Nice name." Valnyk complimented, just to receive another nod from Rehmer.

"Oh, we are here." he announced upon viewing the big door in front of him. He closed the distance swiftly and entered the room, to see the vault.

"This is the treasure of the Aurae House, Pops told me there is a lot of gold. It will be enough for future plans." With a greedy smile on his face, he proceeded to open up the vault. Unluckily for him, the vault was locked up quite well.

"It requires a key to open the vault." Rehmer said it was obvious.

"I don't have the key, hm… then let's open it by force. If I can open it, it would mean that the safety of our treasures is never perfect, better for us to know." Val placed his hands on the vault, while his assistant moved away.

"I'll melt this down." Valnyk channeled tons of fire-mana in his hands, metallic doors of the vault started heating up, turning from red to yellow soon after.

"Ah, this was easy." said Valnyk, witnessing how the years-old metallic vault, which protected the treasury melted down like butter.

When Valnyk finally looked inside the vault, his eyes shone with excitement, literally reflecting golden shine coming from inside.

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"You are planning what?!" Vanessa exclaimed, many were in the same state as her. Valnyk again called out for a meeting in a house, to discuss upcoming plans for the future.

"Calm down, don't you guys want to increase our income and influence? I said I'm going to create an institution for technological progress. I know it may not sound good now, but I guarantee it will be a sensation in a few years." Valnyk waved his hands.

"But, you are using our treasury for the finances. It's tradition to keep resources there for future generations in need."

"Meh, what's the use in money if you don't use it? Besides, I'm the future generation."

'He is too smart for his age…' Many narrowed their eyes, but for them it was better to have a smart leader.

"By the way, I want someone to contact… that artificer guy, I think his name was Pigeon or something." Valnyk said, scratching the back of his head.

"Gideon? That crazy artificer?" Varlam voiced, slight disgust could be seen in his eyes.

"Yeah, that one. I heard he was fully devoted to science, so I need to meet him about this project. He is the perfect candidate for our first worker in the institution." Valnyk nodded at his father.

"That's simple, but what about the Royal Family?" Varay interjected.

"Oh, them? They'll probably come only for me and my father, however, you don't have to worry. Father got a friend in Royal Summit, we are quite informed about the situation in the castle." assured Valnyk, this even brought a smile on Varlam's face.

"But just in case, grab the armor and weapons. From today onwards, the Aurae House won't be under the influence of the Royal Family."

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Author's Corner

Damn, time to humiliate the Royal Family. Erebus really did some trick in his story, even I got affected by it and here I'm fighting against Royals lmao.

Ok, by the way. I'm concentrating on this fic for now! Shadow Monarch S5 is in pre-production, I literally don't have any ideas on how to progress towards the end-game in it (while adding romance…).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this story.