"The Flesh Sect? The Wizard Organization the Eldest Princess joined? I recall it’s very difficult to get in, right? Don’t overextend yourself!" Gaia’s brow furrowed.
To Gaia, he couldn’t favor one child over the other. He couldn’t sacrifice Cheryl’s interests just to compensate Isaac; that would be unfair to Cheryl.
He had heard of the Flesh Sect. Back when the Eldest Princess joined, the Royal Family had apparently paid a hefty price.
"Don’t worry, the situation is a little different. I happen to have an unused recomndation for a major Wizard Organization. The association gave it to as a gift when I redeed so Advanced Arcane Arts. Since I’m an Arcanist, it’s naturally easier for to handle than it would be for others," Cheryl shrugged and said with a smile.
Gaia gave Cheryl a long, deep look. He knew she wasn’t telling the whole truth. It was never that easy. Forget those about to be promoted; even the Empire had several High-level Mages.
However, he didn’t call her out on it. Instead, a sense of relief washed over him. ’A harmonious family... that’s sothing so many of the Nobility can only dream of.’
But then, his thoughts turned to his second son, Remington, and his mood soured instantly.
’His family produced one genius after another. How could such an exceptional bloodline produce such a fool?’
Gaia sighed.
"I rember you have to join the Flesh Sect in the Imperial Capital, right?"
"Yes, that’s their only office within the Empire. After joining, you can use a teleportation ritual to go directly to the Flesh Sect’s headquarters."
"In that case, let’s take care of it all at once. Have him go to the Imperial Capital with Remington."
"Hm?" Upon hearing this, Cheryl glanced at Caesar, then asked uncertainly, "Father, are you planning to have our second brother fulfill that marriage contract? Won’t the other family object?"
At the ntion of a marriage contract, Caesar also perked up and looked at his father, his brow slightly furrowed.
As a noble family with a long history, political marriages were unavoidable. The Solomon Clan had a marriage contract with a branch of the Royal Family in the Imperial Capital. Originally, the contract was for Cheryl.
But she beca an Arcanist, and a very talented one at that. For several years, she had been on the path to becoming a Grand Arcanist and had already earned the right to control her own destiny. So, naturally, a substitute was needed.
Of the three remaining siblings, Isaac was the first to be ruled out due to his previous physical weakness. Besides, this world didn’t have the custom of arranging marriages to ward off ill fortune. That left only Caesar and Remington.
And when you compared the two of them...
Even a fool would know who to choose!
The other family naturally wanted Caesar. They even sent word that Caesar wouldn’t have to marry into their family; a normal marriage would suffice.
For the Royal Family, even a branch family, this was a huge concession!
One could only imagine how pleased they were with Caesar.
To suddenly switch to Remington marrying into their family...
’That could be troubleso!’
Gaia shook his head and said, "Don’t worry, it’s already been discussed. It’s not good to get too entangled with the Royal Family. You two should rember this as well: from now on, you are to act as if you no longer have a brother nad Remington."
Caesar and Cheryl fell silent. ’So, in the end, he’s really being disowned?’
With Gaia’s words, Remington’s fate was no longer as simple as just marrying into another family...
But they couldn’t object. Remington’s cri was too great. It was only because his surna was Solomon; otherwise, the charge of colluding with the enemy alone was enough to get him killed several tis over.
But even with the Solomon na, he might be spared the death penalty, but he couldn’t escape punishnt.
’In the end, marrying into the Royal Family isn’t such a bad outco...’
’His status will be low, but at least if he works hard, there’s still a small chance he could break through to beco a High-level Knight...’
"When will they set off?" Caesar asked.
"The sooner, the better. Preferably tomorrow!" Gaia said decisively.
There was no choice; he couldn’t afford to wait. Isaac’s Summoning of the Black Orc God today had given him a serious scare. He now had a nagging feeling that Isaac might just summon an Evil God next...
"Sigh... I understand." Caesar let out a heavy sigh.
Gaia’s brow furrowed, his expression turning to one of displeasure. "It’s not like we’re banishing Isaac! What are you sighing for?! He can still live in that castle in the future. If you want to see him, you can go anyti. No one is stopping you. You must rember, you are about to beco the Lord of this domain! You have to be responsible for the people of this land! Do you understand?!"
"Yes! I understand, Father!" After Gaia’s lecture, although Caesar still felt a bit disgruntled, he didn’t dare let it show on his face and nodded in agreent.
...
anwhile, back in his laboratory, Isaac had no idea he was about to leave the fortress. Not that he would have cared even if he did. There wouldn’t be many more opportunities for him to act at the fortress anyway. The enemies were either too weak, easily handled by his older sister and the others, or too strong, requiring his older brother and his team to step in.
The only convenience of staying here was the easy access to research funding...
But given the domain’s current financial situation, it was questionable whether he could continue to secure funding so smoothly.
So, it was probably about ti for him to go back and consolidate his findings.
In any case, none of this ever truly belonged to Isaac. He never intended to compete with Caesar from the start, so he was quite open-minded about it.
Right now, Isaac wasn’t concerned with such trivial matters. Sitting at his desk, he drew two lines on a piece of scratch paper, each representing a future branching path for his Flesh Conversion Witchcraft.
One was to continue down the path of swarming, further researching Demons like rats and insects that could be easily mass-produced. The other was the elite unit path: sacrificing quantity to concentrate his Magic Power and summon one big one!
This second path wasn’t in Isaac’s original plan, as he felt it wasn’t cost-effective.
But today’s battle had taught Isaac a very real lesson.
In the past, his hypothetical enemies were either pathetically weak goblins or Knights on the level of Smith and Barton. The sample size was too small, which led to his final results being slightly less than ideal.
For example, the latest version of his Demonized Rats couldn’t even break through the defenses of the demonized Half-Orcs.
Though also at the Knight level, the demonized Half-Orcs had far superior base stats compared to Smith and Barton, especially their defense!
Against humans, the Demonized Rats could still break through defenses by targeting vulnerable spots. Although the damage was negligible, if you scraped away fast enough, it was still like death by a thousand cuts.
But the prerequisite for everything was breaking through their defense. If you couldn’t do that, the result was quite awkward...
Like in today’s battle...
But today’s battle also gave Isaac a glimpse of the ultimate power in the Extraordinary World. So, should he change his research direction?
Or should he, as he’d always done, pursue both paths at once?
Isaac fell into deep thought.
After thinking for a while, Isaac still couldn’t decide. He took a Gold Coin from his pocket. One side had a head, the other a flower. Heads ant continuing the swarm approach; flowers ant the elite unit approach.
Tossing the coin high into the air, Isaac caught it and, without looking at the result, stuffed it back into his pocket. He already had his answer.
In the instant the coin was at the peak of its arc, he had found himself hoping for the flower...
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