"Well then, Your Highness." Valter took out a scroll from his spatial ring. "I believe it's about time to get started on our lesson."

Reivan reluctantly nodded.

'Let's just get this over with...'

Even though he held a natural curiosity for this world's knowledge, the thought that he could be learning about fighting and magic instead, caused him to be a bit impatient. Reivan realized that he couldn't stay like this, but he just couldn't help wanting to end this lecture and swing around his newly-obtained Soul Armament.

"Today, we'll focus on some basic knowledge. Your Highness, are you aware of the three nations that split the central continent of Sentorale between them?"

Reivan gazed into empty air as he started listing off the names he'd heard from time to time. "The Aizen Kingdom, our nation; The Argonia Empire; and the Magitechnocratic Republic of Arkhan."

"Wonderful." Valter nodded in approval. He then placed the scroll on the table between them and unfurled it, revealing what was obviously a map. "This is a basic map of Sentorale, Your Highness. Although we possess more detailed ones, something like this is what's commonly available to the public."

 

 

As long as he didn't include the "treasure maps" he'd seen in this world's children's books, this was Reivan's first time seeing a map.

"We're so tiny..."

Valter smiled softly in response to the young prince's mutter. "Indeed..."

"Why aren't the country names listed...? I guess these stars are the countries' capitals, right?"

"That's right, Your Highness." Valter nodded. "As for the names, those don't need to be listed since it's fairly obvious which is which. Blue is for the Aizen Kingdom, purple represents the Arkhan Republic, and red stands for the Argonia Empire."

"Uh-huh..." Reivan curiously reached forward and stroked the map, letting his fingers run across the rough paper. Then his hand stopped over the star that housed his home. "Our capital's name isn't very creative. It's the same as the country's name..."

At this, Valter couldn't help but chuckle. "It's the other way around, Your Highness. The first king became a nation's sovereign, he ruled over a single city as its lord at first. And he'd named that city after a warrior he admired as a child. Eventually, his territory expanded, becoming large enough to form an actual nation."

"Oh..." The prince's eyes widened, connecting the dots in his head. "And then he named the country after the city?."

"Correct."

"But he still named the country after the city's name... that's not very creative at all."

Valter hummed as he rubbed his chin. "I have no words to defend him."

'Well, at least he added an extra syllable when he made the country's name as the royal family's last name...'

After clearing his throat to snap Reivan out of his thoughts. "Your Highness, today I'd like to teach you more about the powers that be — the titans that hold the biggest influence in the Sentorale Continent."

"Okay." Reivan nodded, turning his full attention to his teacher.

"Very well." Valter raised a finger in the air before asking. "How many powers— or rather, how many titans do you think there are?"

Immediately, Reivan's eyes darted to the map on the table.

'How many...? That's easy.'

"Thre—"

Reivan was just about to say "three", but then suddenly stopped. With a frown on his face, he hung his head low and started thinking.

'It's never that simple. This feels like a trap question.'

A quick glance upward revealed that the purple-haired knight was now grinning at him, cementing Reivan's suspicions in his heart.

'It was a trap.'

Now that he was sure, Reivan wracked his brain for an answer.

'What does a "titan" even mean...?'

Off the top of his head, Reivan envisioned a giant; something that could crush most things underfoot.

If he were to consider Aizen as one of them, then what exactly made Aizen a giant?

Was it the vast wealth it possessed? Perhaps it was the superior weaponry their forces had access to? Or maybe it was the large number of loyal knights under its employ?

'No. Those don't feel quite right...'

Furiously scratching the back of his head, Reivan's eyes widened in realization. A believable answer had just popped into his head.

'Transcendents...'

Reivan wasn't quite sure just how powerful Transcendents were, but he still remembered how his mother had pinched a maid into nothingness when he was a baby.

And she was an Ascendant.

If his mother was so powerful, then Reivan could only imagine the things someone that surpassed her by an entire realm was able to do.

Furthermore, despite Aizen's massive pool of Ascendants, there was only one Transcendent.

The Sword Star, Rolf.

It was fairly obvious at this point that Transcendents were incredibly rare, and raising one was a near-impossible endeavor.

So, the fact that Aizen couldn't just stomp over the other two nations meant that they were on a similar level. And since they were on similar levels, it was safe to say that Arkhan and Argonia had a Transcendent too.

'That brings me back to the question... how many are there?'

Reivan was fairly sure that it was more than three. Valter's previous reaction confirmed that. The problem was knowing how many other "titans" there were. There weren't any other countries in the continent, so that meant any other "power" was an organization of some sort. And any organization that was on a similar level to the three nations had to have similar power and influence as the three nations.

'Which means they must have Transcendents too...'

Soon, his eyes widened as he remembered something.

'The Church!'

Once upon a time, he'd heard his father mention a Church of Sormon and how they went around healing people. Although it was a bit of a stretch, Reivan assumed they had a Transcendent too.

'If we're going by conventional web novel tropes... a Paladin, maybe? Or is it the Pope that's the Transcendent...? Oh! Oh! It's probably a Saintess or a Holy Maiden.'

Reivan could confidently bet half his fortune that it was a Saintess. It was always a Saintess in anime and manga.

'Anyway, it's safe to assume that they're friendly to Aizen...'

That made the balance in the continent tilt in Aizen's favor by a little bit. If they essentially had two Transcendents, wouldn't the other two nations fear Aizen too much and band together to even the playing field?

Reivan turned toward his teacher. "Before I answer, can I ask what the relationship between the three nations is like?"

Valter nodded. "Argonia's everlasting desire to expand means it is always hostile to everything. As for Aizen and Arkhan, we have a relatively friendly relationship. Not allies, but not enemies either. Although It isn't much, there is trade between us and them."

"I see..."

'That means they aren't banding together against Aizen.'

That also meant they didn't fear Aizen enough to ally with each other.

There was also the possibility that the relationship between Arkhan and Argonia was just so bad, that they thought annihilation was preferable to working with each other. But Reivan felt that the former was more reasonable.

His thoughts brought him to the conclusion that the other two nations were both friendly to organizations that had Transcendents of their own, in the same way that Aizen was close to the Church of Sormon. And if he were to take the balance of power between the three nations into account, there could only be one answer.

Reivan took a deep breath before voicing out his answer. "There are six powers that influence the continent."

"That," Valter closed his eyes and nodded, a small smile creeping up his face. "...is correct."

'Let's fucking go!'

Heaving an exhausted sigh of relief, Reivan leaned back into the sofa's soft embrace.

'My brain feels like it's overheating...'

It felt like it had been a while since he used his head like that. Reivan was self-aware that he was more muscles than brains. Years of being unable to use much of that muscle didn't change that about him. In fact, he was the type of person that liked the occasional power-fantasy novel because he could just turn his brain off while he read it.

But he liked to think of himself as a person that could do it when he had to.

'I can be smart sometimes too!'

Reivan couldn't stop his lips from curling up into a grin as pride filled his veins.

"It seems like your intelligence was not overblown." Valter looked at his student warmly. "Aizen is blessed with yet another capable royal family member."

"Hahaha..." The prince scratched his nose in embarrassment. "Nevermind that, please continue the lesson."

"As you wish."

Valter pointed at the star on the map placed near the top left, floating above in an expanse of red.

"In no particular order, the six main powers in Sentorale are the Argonia Empire..."

His hand then glided over to the star to the east.

"Then there is us. The kingdom of Aizen..."

Next, he pointed at the grey tower of stone illustrated near the middle of the map.

"The third is the Spirit Tower of Arkhan."

"Hm?"

'Am I deaf...?'

Reivan unconsciously rubbed his ears. Even though the spot his teacher was pointing at made it obvious, Reivan still thought he must've heard incorrectly.

"Ahaha... sorry, I didn't quite catch the third one. Can you say it again?"

The knight nodded, underlining the words "Spirit Tower" with his fingers. "It is the Spirit Tower of Arkhan, Your Highness."

The young prince frowned in confusion. "Not the republic itself?"

"Yes, not the republic itself." Valter cleared his throat before beginning his explanation. "It isn't generally known, but the Spirit Tower is actually an organization that is separate from the Government. Their relationship is... symbiotic — or in simpler terms, is built on mutual benefits. The Spirit Tower invents and manufactures things, and the Republic takes care of the Tower's needs while also providing the resources that are essential for the research they conduct."

'Huh. That's kind of neat...'

"However," Valter tapped with his finger. "The Spirit Tower is the more dominant of the two, seeing as it is led by Arkhan's only Transcendent — The Witch King, Antonnel. Although more people call him the Sage King, instead."

"So he's a king?"

"Only in the sense that he has declared himself the most proficient of all mages. He doesn't actually take a leadership role, not even in his own tower. On the contrary, he locks himself in his lab, indulging in research and... whatever else he indulges in."

'So he's a freaking recluse!'

Reivan felt like he would be able to relate to that person, as someone who spent most of his previous life shut in his hospital room.

"So, what. He doesn't actually care about his country?" he asked, his curiosity fully peaked.

"That is not the case, as proven by history." Valter shook his head. "The War God, Lionel — Argonia's Transcendent and its first emperor — personally attacked Arkhan a few hundred years before my birth, but was rebuffed by the Sage King."

"Woah..." Reivan's jaw almost dropped and his eyes were as wide as saucers. "So the Sage King is stronger than that War God fellow?"

"Not necessarily. The War God retreated back to the Argonian Capital of Leonel uninjured, and the Sage King was also unharmed. So it may have just been the War God checking to see if the Sage King would respond to a threat. It is possible that no actual fight occurred."

"So that's it..."

"In any case, although his motivations are unknown, the Sage King doesn't want the Republic's collapse either."

"I see." Reivan sighed before smiling wryly at his teacher. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for interrupting."

"No apologies are necessary and questions are always welcome." Valter waved his student's concerns away. "Now, the three I just mentioned are the three that the general public knows about. The Transcendents that are tied to them are very well known. On the other hand, there are three hidden powers in the continent that have Transcendents that haven't fully revealed themselves yet."

Again, Reivan frowned in bewilderment. "Why wouldn't they reveal themselves? Isn't having a Transcendent in an organization a good thing?"

"That is usually the case, yes." The knight shook his head, purple hair swaying side to side. "But please understand, Your Highness, that although a Transcendent can garner awe and respect, they are a fearsome existence. And there are organizations that don't benefit from that fear... well, that's what we think is the reason, anyway. Aizen's information network is not omniscient, so we could be wrong."

"That's true..." Reivan bobbed his head in understanding, giving up on knowing these hidden powers' motives for now. "And what are these organizations...?"

"The one with the largest influence would be the Star of Fortune. A mercantile organization that bases itself in Arkhana, the republic's capital."

'Merchants? Let me guess, their Transcendent is called the Gold King or something.'

Reivan couldn't help but smirk at his own thoughts for a moment but snapped out of it quickly. With a shake of his head, he refocused on his teacher's words.

"The Star of Fortune's Transcendent is called the Gladiator King..." Valter frowned deeply, as if remembering something unpleasant.

Curious, Reivan leaned forward and asked, "And?"

"He..." The knight paused before shaking his head and sighing. "He is a slave that belongs to the Star of Fortune."

Reivan's jaw almost hit the floor. "What..."

"His slave contract binds him to an eternity of servitude to whoever sits on the Star of Fortune's top seat... with the additional rule that he cannot be used against other members of the organization. While he was still a mortal, he fought in countless gladiatorial matches, eventually creating legends of his invulnerability and earning his current title. Soon, the Star of Fortune decided that staying as a gladiator was a waste of his talents, so they used him as a mercenary instead. And then three hundred years ago, that slave eventually became a Transcendent."

"That's..." Reivan trailed off. Nothing in what he heard explained why Valter made such a strange expression.

As such, he stared attentively at the knight, awaiting more information.

Perhaps detecting the boy's curiosity, Valter sighed and massaged his temples. "I knew him personally. We fought against each other, way before we became Ascendants. We are also similar in age."

"Woah..." Reivan's eyes brightened. In his excitement, he accidentally spoke his thoughts. "Does that mean you're going to be a Transcendent soon, too?"

Valter's normally calm face broke into a grimace for an instant that Reivan didn't miss. "Th-that's... Although I'd love to transcend, I'm too incompetent to do so at the moment..."

Quickly, Reivan realized that he'd just said something that was somewhat insensitive.

"Sir Valter, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it..."

'Fuck me and my dumbass mouth...'

"No, no... there's no need to apologize." Valter waved Reivan's concerns off. While wearing a faulty smile, he hastily explained, "When it comes to transcendence, Your Highness, age doesn't mean everything... for example, the Saintess is only three hundred years old. Meanwhile, the Sword Star was more than 1500 years old before he became a Transcendent. This would normally make one think that the Saintess is much more talented, but in actuality..."

Reivan nodded along with the knight's tirade, but then he latched onto something.

"The Saintess...?"

Valter halted and seemed to have realized that he'd gone a bit off-topic. He cleared his throat. "Let's continue. Aside from the Star of Fortune, the other hidden power is the Church of Sormon. A religion centered around the Sun God Sormon."

'There it is, that's the church that Father mentioned. And as expected, there's a Saintess.'

Feeling a bit proud of his guess, Reivan inwardly snickered.

"And this Church is allied to Aizen, right?"

Valter nodded. "Part of it, yes."

"Part of it...?" Reivan frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The Church of Sormon is currently split in two, with the Pope leading the Orthodox Faction, and the Twilight Faction that is rallying under the Saintess. It is the Twilight Faction that is based within the Kingdom, while the Orthodox Faction is in Argonia. From what I know, they separated due to a difference in ideals."

"Oh..." The prince bobbed his head as he processed the new information.

Valter raised a finger as his face turned serious. "And please don't make the mistake of thinking our alliance with the Twilight Faction is ironclad. It would take too much time to explain, but Aizen has certain... practices that would instantly turn the Twilight Faction against us if they were to know. It is fine to think of them as friends outwardly, but we must be very careful around them."

"I understand."

 

 

'Hey! I wasn't lying okay?'

There was just too much information to take in, so he needed a bit more time to digest it all.

"And so, the second and third hidden power is actually the two factions of the Church of Sormon. The Orthodox Faction is a massive religion that the majority — if not the entirety — of the empire adheres to. Its influence there is massive."

"Uh-huh." Reivan nodded, forcing his brain to work on overdrive.

"As for the Twilight Faction's Church of Sormon... although not in the same way as the Orthodox Faction, they also hold enormous clout in the kingdom. Strangely enough, they don't urge people to pray or worship their god, so people who believe in Sormon are scarce here. However, because of their aid in the advancement of medical and agricultural studies, the Twilight Faction — as an organization rather than a religion — holds some power here."

"Uh-huh." Reivan nodded again, feeling as if his head would produce steam any second now.

Valter raised an eyebrow when he gazed at the prince. "Is the lesson a bit hard to follow?"

"Not at al—" Reivan was just about to deny it, but quickly figured that lying about it wouldn't do any good. It was better to fess up. "I honestly feel like my head might burst..."

"That's understandable." Valter reached forward and rolled up the map. "I was actually wondering when you'd surrender. You're still young, so it's expected that your ability to focus will be limited."

Reivan winced, feeling like he'd taken a hit at the back of the head.

'I'm... I'm not a kid on the inside though... do I really have the attention span of a ten-year-old!? It must be cuz I'm biologically ten years old, right?'

He felt like that was a plausible hypothesis. Since his physical brain hadn't fully developed yet, it wasn't all that strange if he had some mental similarities to a child.

Comforted by this excuse, Reivan made a suggestion. "Actually, instead of a verbal lecture, I'd prefer if you gave me some written texts to read..."

Valter turned toward the prince with raised eyebrows. "Hm?"

"I find it easier to understand things when I read them, instead of listening, you see," Reivan explained.

Even when he was back on earth, he'd always preferred written works instead of audiobooks. For some reason, he could sit down and read for hours, but couldn't stand even a few minutes of listening to an audiobook.

Of course, anime was a different thing altogether. He didn't mind listening to good music and skilled voice acting while he looked at moving drawings.

"Is that so..." Valter rubbed his chin in thought before nodding. "I see. I did hear that you were quite interested in books, even when you were much younger. Very well, Your Highness. How about we do it this way... I'll give you written material from now on, and you read it in your spare time. Then in our regular meetings, you can ask for clarifications from me. And at the end, I'll give you a test to see if you understood everything."

"That..." Reivan's eyes widened. "...would be wonderful, actually. Is that really okay?"

"Of course it is. I'm your private tutor after all, so my goal is to teach you in the most efficient way possible. Sticking to the norm, when it so obviously doesn't work for you is foolish."

'Man, being a prince is awesome!'

Reivan leaned back and put his hands behind his head, feeling absolutely thrilled that he didn't have to sit through long lectures from now on. As his eyes closed, his lips curled up into a wide smile.

"Well then, since you like reading so much, please take a look at these." Valter took a stack of books out from his spatial ring and dropped them on the table.

Immediately, Reivan's face fell as his heart dropped.