"Did you predict all of this?" Mikaela asked, turning her head to look at Muria as the three little girls bickered and plotted in their room. As their parents, it was impossible for Mikaela and Muria not to notice what their daughters were up to.
"Of course not!" Muria shook his head in response to his wife's question. "I didn't expect Aeolos to be so attached to his sisters."
"So, does this mean things are out of your control?" Mikaela pressed.
"Control?" Muria chuckled. "What control? I've never tried to control anything."
"Didn't you plan everything in Aeolos's life from childhood to now?" Mikaela asked again.
"I just made some general arrangements. I didn't plan out the details," Muria said, rubbing his forehead in slight exasperation. "Although I did intervene a few times during Aeolos's growth, most of the interventions were made on the fly, based on the situation."
"I thought you had planned every little thing in his life!" Mikaela said, surprised.
"That's nonsense! I'm not that controlling. How could I treat my son that way?" Muria felt the need to clarify things to his wife, as she seemed to have a major misunderstanding of him.
"I sealed Aeolos's bloodline so that he could see the real conditions of different social classes across the empire with his own eyes. That way, when he inherits my empire, even if he's seated high up, he'll know to look down and consider the situation of the lower classes."
Muria explained his reasoning for sealing Aeolos's bloodline. He didn't want his son, once he became emperor, to be so out of touch with reality that he'd say something as ridiculous as "Why don't they eat meat?" Aeolos had been born into privilege, and without intervention, when he ascended to a position where he could determine the fate of nations, he might lose sight of the struggles at the bottom.
"Every time I sent him into a labyrinth, it was just a reasonable excuse to give him equipment, resources, and secret arts. Every bit of interference was for his benefit."
"So, what are you going to do about your daughters' latest actions?" Mikaela asked.
"Do? Nothing. I won't interfere at all. With them involved, I don't even need to rack my brains to think of ways to send Aeolos what he needs!" Muria laughed, realizing that he could follow his mother's example and make a few subtle arrangements.
...
After working tirelessly to accumulate 30,000 credits to buy three Dragon Bloodline Extraction Potions for his sisters and delivering them, Aeolos returned to school to continue his studies.
Because of Aeolos's unique situation, even though he attended classes with a group of young dragons, he had more freedom. He could choose which classes to attend, as some of the material he had already learned, and he was eligible to apply for advancement exams at any time.
However, even at Dragon Academy, unexpected things happened. Since the academy accommodated students from preschool all the way to university, there were many adolescent dragons around.
Dragons, particularly during adolescence, had very strong desires, and dragons as a species had a wide range of potential mates. Naturally, Aeolos, with his tall stature, handsome appearance, and partial golden dragon bloodline, attracted the attention of a group of female dragons.
But before any of these dragonesses could make a move on Aeolos, the three little princesses intervened. They used their authority to assign these dragonesses mandatory credit tasks, essentially exiling them and ensuring they couldn't target their brother.
Without realizing it, Aeolos settled into a peaceful life at the academy. When the school took breaks, he would apply for tasks to complete.
...
On the weekend, while browsing the academy's task board, Aeolos smiled as he snagged a new credit task.
Task: Eliminate Evil
Location: Morley Province, Aiba City, Broken Stone Town
Time: Arrive at the task location before sunset today
Objective: Resolve the source of the deaths among the resurrected
Reward: 300 credits
"I heard from the upperclassmen that tasks like this are practically free credits!" Aeolos walked to the corner of the room where a small teleportation array was set up. It transported the items he would need for the mission—a black robe to conceal his identity and a badge.
It was a divine emblem depicting a six-winged angel holding a sword, its head bowed, its face obscured. All six wings were black, symbolizing death and annihilation. "The Church of Death, representing Hades," Aeolos murmured as he examined the emblem.
He knew exactly what this emblem signified: the Synapse-backed religion of the god of death, Hades. In a short period, this death-based pantheon, led by the newly ascended god Hades, had spread its influence across the continent thanks to Synapse's support. With the ruling class backing it, the death god's faith had quickly become the dominant religion in Synapse.
"They're really pushing this hard!" Aeolos remarked, spinning the emblem in his hand. The number of death-related tasks in the academy's task center clearly pointed to the pantheon's growing importance.
...
By the time the sun was setting, a robed traveler arrived at a small, somewhat run-down town. He glanced at the sky and sighed in relief. "Made it on time!"
This was Aeolos, arriving at the town to carry out his mission. As he walked through the town, he observed his surroundings. It was a typical small town, populated mostly by ordinary humans, many of whom were second-generation residents who had been born on this continent filled with opportunities.
Ordinary people could never have accomplished intercontinental migration on their own, of course. This had been possible only due to the will of Synapse's ruler, who had enlisted many legendary figures to help transport the wealthy populations of various regions and nations to the Synapse continent.
"Now I need to find the resurrected," Aeolos recalled what he had read on the academy forum about previous students' experiences with the tasks from the Church of Death. He began searching the town for any signs of a funeral.
It didn't take long for Aeolos, now a gold-rank warrior, to find his target.
"This must be the place," he said, standing at the entrance to a slightly dilapidated courtyard. From inside, he could hear faint sobbing. Without hesitation, Aeolos stepped into the courtyard.
As he entered, nobody stopped him or questioned him. It was as if everyone ignored his presence.
Aeolos knew why—his black robe concealed him from the perception of anyone below gold rank as long as he didn't take any aggressive actions.
"So, this is the resurrected?" Under the robe's protection, Aeolos made his way to the center of the courtyard and saw a coffin placed there. Inside lay a middle-aged man's body. His skull was caved in, clearly the result of a blow from a blunt object, and judging by his calloused hands and weathered face, he had been a laborer from the lower class.
"So, this is one of the ones blessed by the god of death," Aeolos thought as he observed the deceased. The man seemed to have been well-loved in life, as the number of people who had come to mourn him was considerable.
This didn't surprise Aeolos. Those who drew the attention of the god of death and merited his intervention for resurrection were usually good people with two key traits. First, they had to be followers of Hades. Second, they had to have been people who did good deeds in life.
Aeolos quietly observed the scene. There wasn't much emotional fluctuation in his heart, as he knew that the man lying there, mourned by hundreds, would be resurrected after midnight, his soul returned from the underworld with the blessing of the god of death.
Time passed slowly. Aeolos leaned against a stone wall, watching the unfolding scene of grief and farewell without expression. By now, he had pieced together the cause of this well-liked man's death.
It was simple: his overly kind nature had led him into conflict with a group of thugs, and during the altercation, he had been beaten to death.
As midnight approached, Aeolos, who had been dozing lightly with his eyes half-closed, looked up at the sky. In the moonlight, he saw a flock of black pigeons flying from the distance. Without stopping, they descended over the dilapidated courtyard.
"Coo, coo!" The pigeons' coos startled the mourners keeping vigil, who rushed out into the courtyard. What they saw was a chilling and eerie sight.
Hundreds of black pigeons perched on the courtyard's roof and walls, their gazes all fixed on the corpse in the coffin. Their cooing filled the night, creating a scene that the ordinary townspeople would never forget.
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