Giggadon empire

Royal palace hallway

 

*clomp* *clomp* *clomp* *clomp*

 

“Good morning, your majesty, lord Chamberlin,” the maids greeted with blushed faces as they walked past the emperor and the lord chamberlain in the palace halls. Though the emperor is known as a tyrant across the lands, it didn’t stop women from almost dropping their draws at the sight of him.  

 

Following behind the emperor were the lord chamberlain and two knights. After a few minutes, they arrived at the emperor’s office. The knights stepped forward and pulled onto the door’s handle, opening it. Emperor Maximus and lord chamberlain walked in and the knights closed the door behind them and guarded the door. 

 

The emperor’s office was more normal than expected. Contrary to popular belief that the emperor keeps the skull of his slain enemies in a glass jar, and places them in his collection in his office. Which was the rumor going around in the empire. But there was no shelf filled with glass-covered skulls. There was only a beautifully designed wooden office desk, made of Oakwood. It is placed at the far center end of the room with a window behind it. And in front of the table were two long golden-yellow Camel back chairs with a tea table placed between them.

 

At the right side of the room was a large fish tank filled with a dozen black-stripped doom fish. The fish is the emperor’s pet. It had dark shiny scales with long flowing, luminous, purple-colored fins, and tails. 

 

The first thing the emperor did after walking into his office was to feed his pet fish, with a loaf of bread he took from the dining hall. He pinched off tiny pieces of the bread and scattered them in the fish tank. The fish swam towards the breadcrumbs and ate them. Emperor Maximus watched the fish as it fed, with a little smile on his face that faded immediately after.

 

The chamberlain caught sight of the emperor’s smile. “What would the people say if they know that the ‘Tyrant emperor’ smiles while feeding his pet?” He said in a friendly tone. As he stared at the emperor’s back.

 

“Is that, how you speak to your emperor!?” Maximus asked in an angry tone, as he turned around towards the chamberlain.

 

“...”

 

The chamberlain and the emperor stared at each other without saying a word for a few seconds.

 

“Pfft… Hahaha.” They both burst out a loud laugh. 

 

“Haha… not like anyone would believe you. The cold tyrant emperor smiles while feeding his pet fish. It sounds more unbelievable than me having a collection of enemy skulls placed in jars. Ha-hahaha.” Maximus laughed as he walked to his office desk and sat.

 

Eadulf Balston. The second son of Marquess Roland Balston, lord chamberlain of the Giggadon empire, and the emperor’s best friend. He is a born genius, second only to the emperor. Possessing a legendary class mana level. That is found once in a century.

 

————————- Flashback————————

 

 From a young age, Eadulf was brought up with the best clothes, shoes, education, gifts, and above all else, a parent's love. Unlike the eldest son, Ewin Balston, who is shunned because of his constitution. Ewin sufferers from a rare disease that is found in one in a million people.

‘SEVEN YIN SEVERED MERIDIAN’. is a disease that clogs the meridian of a person preventing him from circulating his mana properly. And if mana was forced through those clogged meridians, it would lead to mana overload, killing the afflicted in a gruesome way.

 

  Eadulf and his brother had a close relationship but were always separated from each other. while Eadulf lived in a warm room, ate good food, and slept on a soft bed, his elder brother was thrown to rot away in the estate cellar. away from the world’s eyes because of the rumor that the ‘SEVEN YIN SEVERED MERIDIAN’ was infectious.

 

But Eadulf, who loves his elder brother, could not see his brother suffer. so, he would always sneak into the cellars at night, bringing his brother a warm meal to eat and blankets to keep him warm, in the cold cellar in secret. But one of Eadulf’s personal maids reported his actions to the marquess.

 

The Marquess got enraged and decided to punish Ewin for endangering their pride and joy by banishing him from their territory during a winter storm. And Eadulf was not allowed to step out of his room without two or more guards by his side, and his maids took care of his every need.

 

Weeks passed, and a message was sent to the Marquess Estate, that Ewin had succumbed to the cold and died on the streets. After reading the letter, the only expression on the marquess’s face was a smile. He was happy because the law of the empire states that only the first-born male child could inherit the title unless he dies, then the second child can inherit it. 

 

This was the reason they kept Ewin in the cellar because the Marquess could not kill him with his own hands and had to find another way. But because of the excuse of endangering a once-in-a-million genius, he used banishment as a way to get rid of him once and for all. 

 

When the Marquess finished reading the letter, he threw it in the bin and walked out of his office, oblivious of Eadulf, who had snuck into the office and hid behind one of the window curtains. After Eadulf noticed that his father had left the office, he came out of the curtains and picked up the letter from the bin.

 

As he opened the ruffled letters and read them, tears ran down his cheeks, and he fell to his knees and cried bitterly as he shouted his brother’s name in pain.

 

As Eadulf’s sad wails echoed throughout the estate. Everyone ran to his aid, including the Marquess and marchioness. But when they arrived, the marquess noticed the letter in his hands, and instead of consoling the sad child who had just lost his brother, he tried convincing him that his brother’s death was good.

 

 “You don’t have to cry over the death of that thing… it dying, is a good thing. Now you would be the first-born son who would inherit my title and raise our family to stand with the five great families. He... hehe. With your talent, it’s only a matter of time.” Marquess Balston said as he laughed."

 

“Yes, young lord, you are the pride of the family, don’t cry over that waste. He was a good for nothing.” Eadulf personal maid said. And the other servants agreed with what she said as they made ridiculous remarks about Ewin

 

 

Eadulf raised his head to look at his father, but what he saw was not human at all, but greed itself. He could not help but feel disgusted. “I hate them…!! I hate them…!! I hate them…!! They are not human.” He thought in his mind. From that day forward, in his eyes, everyone in the estate did not look human to him. They had the appearance of a greed demon he had read about in a book.

 

His parents tried to please him with fancy clothes, shoes, and gifts, but he only wanted one thing. To slay the demons that plague him and killed his brother. 

 

Years passed, and Eadulf has grown up to be a handsome young teenage boy. He had just had his twelfth birthday a month ago and was invited to the first prince’s birthday. When he got there, he realized something new. Every person in the royal banquet hall had the same face as his parents, a face filled with greed. He could not stand the sight of such disgusting creatures, so he ran to the corner of the hall where no one was. But to his surprise, there was someone there, a young boy with silver hair that looked to be the same age as he was. 

 

From the boy’s hair color, Eadulf realized that he was royalty and decided to avoid him, but to his surprise, he could see the boy’s face. It had been five years since his brother’s incident and that was the last time, he saw a person as a person. 

 

Out of curiosity, he walks up to the boy. “Hi. I am Eadulf. What’s your name?” He asked with a blunt tone.

 

The sliver-haired boy turned his head towards Eadulf and all Eadulf could see was the burning fire of hate in the boy’s eyes. It was the same burning hate he possessed.

 

“I’m Maximus. Now leave.” He replied in a harsh tone.

 

Eadulf smiled at his response. “I think we will be great friends.” He said and rested his back on the same pillar as Maximus. 

 

“Huh???...” Maximus was confused by Eadulf’s words.

 

—-------------------------- End of flashback—---------------------------

 

Maximus saw that Eadulf was still standing. “Seat… seat.” He said while pointing to the camel chairs in the middle of the room.

 

“Thank you, your majesty.” Eadulf thanked Maximus formally as he sat in the Camel chair. 

 

Maximus had a shocked look on his face because of Eadulf’s actions. “... No need to be formal in front of me. We’re friends.” He said in a friendly tone.

 

“Ok… Maximus, what are you doing? We have known each other since we were young boys, and if I have learnt anything about you is that you do not do anything without a reason. So… why do you turn your children on themselves?” He asked seriously.

 

“...”

 

Maximus stared at Eadulf in silence for a few seconds. He had a look on his face that he was contemplating what he wanted to say. “Do you know why a conquered all the north? It wasn’t because I love war or wanted more land to rule over… I did it for power. Power the likes you have never seen before.” 

 

“Power?... what power could you want? You are the strongest aura user in the world, and you rule over the strongest empire. No one can challenge your strength…” Eadulf said with a confused look on his face. He could not imagine why Maximus would need more strength.

 

“Ha… hahaha. What power do you talk about? This weak strength I possess is nothing in front of them. They could crush me with a single flick of their finger.” He said as he laughed hysterically.

 

“Them… them who? Whom are you talking about? And what does that have to do with your daughters?” He asked.

 

“As for my daughters… I am just giving them a better way to die. They either die fighting for the belief of something they will never have, or I’ll slaughter every one of them. Now that my son is born, they are of no use, other than to drain palace funds we can use to reinforce military strength.”