Chapter 292: Taking the Initiative

After a decision was made in the kingdom’s council, Donald received news from Giantstone City the next day.
“A demon plague mission? Well, we can send some people to support Duri, so he won’t be overwhelmed by Andrew!” he said to himself after receiving the news, while working on a magical project with his teacher and three other silver mages.
Hearing this, Chris replied impatiently, “It’s just a struggle for the throne. Can’t we stay neutral? What benefit does that bring to Dalaran?”
Knowing that Chris was a traditional mage, he hated being disturbed by politics, as it interfered with his research and cultivation.
Donald smiled gently and said, “That’s not how it works. In life, one can’t completely avoid the outside world or social interactions. Occasionally stepping outside might even lead to unexpected gains!”
“Besides, it’s not as if you won’t be affected if you stay out of it. If Andrew gains the throne, he might not be able to confront us directly, but he can still sabotage us secretly, making life difficult for us. It’s better to prevent such possibilities from the start by supporting Duri, who is friendly to us, and avoid future troubles!”
Chris grunted. He knew Donald made sense, but he simply didn’t want to live that kind of life.
Donald, who used to be a homebody, also disliked getting involved in such troublesome political struggles. But since he had become a lord, he had to take responsibility for the people around him, so he had no choice but to get involved.
However, after two or three years of effort, his status and strength among the noble lords of Thelos were now outstanding. As long as he focused on the overall direction, he could leave the rest to his subordinates, so he faced few troubles.
The old mage then spoke up, “Your personality, Chris, is both an advantage and a disadvantage for a mage. The advantage is that you can concentrate on cultivation and research, but the disadvantage is that once you hit a bottleneck, you’re prone to getting stuck and failing to adapt, wasting a lot of time. Just like how you stayed at the bronze rank for so long—aside from accumulating knowledge, it was also because of this. Without Donald’s miraculous constructions, who knows how long you’d have been stuck before reaching the silver threshold!”

Chris was still able to accept Meisel’s lessons with an open mind, but the old mage had known him almost his entire life and could tell that he hadn’t really taken it to heart. So he simply sighed in resignation.
Of the three and a half disciples, Chris was the most troublesome, but that was just his innate personality. If he could change, he wouldn’t be Chris anymore.
Donald had just received the news in the morning, and by afternoon, Ferdinand and Duri arrived one after another on alchemical airships.
With the alchemical airships provided by Donald, traveling within Selt had become much more convenient and fast.
So far, however, Donald had only provided airships to the Anser family, the royal family, and the Leyton family. The other noble houses hadn’t received any, as rarity made things valuable. Besides, Donald intended to give these three groups a time advantage so they could accumulate sufficient benefits. Thus, Daralan didn’t plan to release another alchemical airship in the short term.
Among the groups that received airships, the Anser family mainly used them for military operations, the royal family for tax collection and overseas visits, while only the Leyton family utilized theirs entirely for commercial transportation. Their family’s profits had increased by at least 30% during this period.
“You really aren’t a good friend. You’ve improved so much yet didn’t tell me. Is it because you’re afraid I’ll be devastated? You underestimate me, Ferdinand!”
Ferdinand arrived first. Having heard from his father that Donald had reached the golden tier, he felt both envy and admiration. But having received elite education from the Anser family since childhood, he didn’t turn to resentment like many others. Instead, his broad-mindedness inspired him to work harder, determined to reach the silver tier and approach the golden tier within two years.
Hearing Ferdinand’s half-joking, half-serious words, Donald couldn’t help but laugh from the bottom of his heart.
“I really am afraid of shocking you! But I guess you’ll catch up in a few years. You have a great father—that’s what I truly envy! Vincent cares deeply about your family. Besides using one of the benefits he received to reach the legendary tier, he kept the rest and planned to bring them home for you to choose from!”

Speaking of coming to this world alone, aside from his own family, the most sincere and compatible friends he had were Ferdinand and their family. Another was Abel, the female Sword Saint. Their relationship was free from any interest considerations and was filled with loyalty, far surpassing those superficial acquaintances such as Baron Red Maple, the Thorne family, Viscount Covin, as well as forces like the Agricultural Goddess Church—relationships that could only be described as ordinary.

When it came to his father and family, Ferdinand said warmly, “Of course. For my father, nothing is more important than family. Our Ansel family has always had few members. Without mutual respect and unity, it would be difficult to carry on our lineage! What my father brought back this time is an opportunity for our family to rise. He plans to have our mother undergo fusion as well, once she reaches the peak of Silver rank. And if I can reach the Silver peak, I can also choose to undergo fusion. Then, once I reach Gold rank, I’ll challenge you!”

The “things” they were referring to were naturally the fragments of divine essence that Vincent brought back from the Totem Continent. Aside from Donald and Uther, the other three Sword Saints each received five fragments. Each of them, aside from fusing one or two fragments, had other plans for the rest.

After learning about the situation in the kingdom, Vincent returned to his family right away. He hadn’t interfered in kingdom affairs these days, claiming that he was preparing to advance to the Legendary realm and leaving family matters to his heir, Ferdinand.

This indirectly confirmed Ferdinand Ansel’s status as the next head of the family. The major noble families in the kingdom could guess that once Marquis Ansel, the Storm Sword Saint, advanced to Legendary Sword Saint status, he would likely step down as head of the family and hand over his title and territory to his son, while remaining as the family’s strongest warrior.

In fact, their guess was correct. Vincent indeed planned to do so, as it was a long-standing tradition of their Ansel family. Since the Magic Empire era, this ancient family of over a thousand years had always had a strong backing.

Since entering the Totem Continent, Vincent had long stopped treating Donald as an outsider and had shared his family’s situation with him. This had been the practice of past Ansel family elders—once they reached the Legendary realm, they would step back and let the nobles fight for power, while firmly protecting their family’s legacy and interests.

Currently, aside from Vincent himself, the Ansel family also has a reclusive legendary Sword Saint operating in the shadows. This is the fundamental reason why they can stand alongside the royal family as the two major ancient powers in Celt. Forces that seem vast, like the Mage Association, actually lost their legendary powers hundreds of years ago due to the incompetence of their successors, failing to form a tripartite balance of power and leaving only the Ansel and Celt families dominant.

Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Celt is quite remote, with a much smaller population compared to other kingdoms on the continent. No one has been able to rise to the highest levels beyond the legendary tier. Take the Ansel family itself: achieving legendary status is already extremely difficult, and it doesn’t happen in every generation. Moreover, due to the limited lifespan of humans, even those who become legendary warriors only live for three to five hundred years, while mage warriors have longer lifespans.

Over the five hundred years since the establishment of the Kingdom of Celt, the Ansel family has produced only two legends. The earliest one passed away over a hundred years ago after being unable to progress any further. The other was a famous genius from the northern regions decades ago—Vincent’s father’s uncle.

This elder of the Ansel family had no other hobbies aside from dedicating himself to cultivation in his youth. He reached legendary status at the age of fifty and then retired to pursue the immortal path of ascending to demi-godhood.

It was thanks to his uncle’s guidance that Vincent was able to become a Golden Sword Saint in his thirties and earn the renowned title of Storm Sword Saint in the northern regions.

Today, with two legendary Sword Saints in the Ansel family, they have firmly established themselves as the foremost noble family in Celt. Moreover, both of these Sword Saints are under a hundred years old and still have at least another two hundred years of life ahead. It is foreseeable that the prosperity of the Ansel family is just around the corner.