Axel nodded seriously at those words, it was the truth after all. He knew this more than anyone, he could die a hundred times in every single step of the way. This world was just too dangerous, there were too many hidden mysteries in this world that the story he read had failed to describe.
Daniel said one more thing to him, "But don't worry too much and just try your best, I'm sure you will be able to get into the top 250 participants without too much problem. You already know the necessary information for the competition."
Axel nodded and left since their conversation was over. The next day, in the morning, he started his journey towards the royal capital. The competition will be held on the Margrave Colosseum. Neil was accompanying him, as well as the two guards, Garrik and Thorne.
Clara wanted to send another young maid the same age as Axel. Just looking at that fair, cute, and curvaceous beauty made his heart pound badly. He immediately refuted, saying some random stuff, so that the cutey wouldn't feel bad, then Clara herself insisted on coming with him but he disagreed to that as well. He had doubts about whether he would be able to control his little dragon. if it was Clara, it would be even worse.
Her mature and attractive body was already too alluring for him. He messaged his temples in frustration, it seemed he had a thing for older and mature women. It might also explain why he was not too attracted by Sophia in his first life despite her being so beautiful.
If Clara came with him on such a long journey, he wouldn't be able to think about anything but her. Clara also noticed that he would look at her with desire from time to time. But she did not show any reaction to it. Clara has taken care of Axel since he was 5 years old. She would be like a mother figure to him. Axel shook his head and got rid of all of those dirty thoughts, he would think about his relationships after at least half of the academy time had passed.
He had too many things to do to let himself be distracted now.
The three great kingdoms were quite large, each of them were much bigger than even Russia, the 6 minor kingdoms were much smaller. Each great kingdom have 2 minor kingdoms under their subservience.
Many more carriages were going in the same direction of the capital. It was almost akin to a festival for the kingdom. Many people were going to watch the spectacle. Many were going there to participate. The sheer number of people going in the same direction was insane.
No wonder the royals do a marginal selection of 10,000 initially through that complicated manner. Anyone attending the academy would basically have their life set. They would never face financial problems ever again, if you think from a commoners perspective.
Axel could only feel himself to be lucky to have been born in a moderately rich merchant family.
He eventually reached the capital after 5 days of continuous travel while there was a use of a teleportation gate in the middle. There was a large wall surrounding the outer edges of the central capital, he was covered in a hood. All the participant hid their identities carefully.
To enter the capital, he only needed to show the token, and he, alongside his group, was easily let inside. The capital was filled with tall structures, all of which were medieval in design and architecture. Yet, the charm they radiated was breathtaking.
Countless swarms of people were going about their lives.
The capital was extremely large. Despite the large amounts of people that were entering the place, it wasn't cramped. His eyes went towards the direction of the Center. Where a ginormous castle of profound architecture seem to be situated. His eyes widened, when he noticed the black pillar behind the royal castle which seem to be almost reaching the clouds.
He exclaimed in his mind, 'So, that is one of the so-called black pillars that caused seekers to first appear in this world. The thing that allows us to communicate with Prime Nexus.'
The pillar was so far away that it was hardly noticeable to him. Axel and his group found a nice place, paid them a hefty sum, and got two rooms with double beds. Axel toured the royal capital and visited a few places in half a day. Pretty much all the capital was in a festive atmosphere.
For a moment, he wondered if he should visit the underground organization to get more information. Eventually, he decided to go. He forced the two guards to stay in the inn. Now that they had gotten somewhat close to him, they were more understanding of him.
Neil accompanied him, there was quite a few places in the capital where the Arclight organization had their channels in, after all the capital was also their main center of operation. The capital had luxurious mansions of almost every single notable high-nobles and top merchants. His father told him that they also had a small mansion of their own in capital.
But he advised Axel not to stay there before the competition.
He found a young boy selling sweets for kids in the street and conveyed him the password. The boy carefully took him to the right place after saying a few more passwords for verification. He eventually found himself in an empty underground bar. A bartender in a suit came, and he started speaking,
"Greetings, sir. You can call me Justin. May I know what I owe the pleasure of one of our VIP's?"
Axel had himself covered with a hood, but they already know who he is, and it was Neil who said the VIP code. Yet, they knew Neil was just his errand boy. He uncovered his hood and revealed his face.
He asked, "You already know why I am here?"
Justin spoke respectfully, "Of course, sir Axel is here for the competition, I presume?"
Axel did not respond and continued to look at him. Justin sighed and spoke,
"Sir, with all due respect, we don't understand how you came to know of the VIP secret codes."
Axel stated coldly, "You don't need to know. I'm pretty sure the numbers know why I know that."
Justin's eyes widened, and he began to tremble in fear. He bowed his head deeply and said,
"I deeply apologize, sir. Please allow me to share some crucial information of my own accord."
Axel said dryly, "It better be something good...…..."
Justin began to sweat in buckets, but he started speaking. He revealed what the contents of the first elimination might be and some more political situations. Also, the fact that the Dusker family was aiming to finish off the Nomrad family.
This is some of the information he more or less knew or expected already, but what he revealed in the latter part was the true shocker for Axel.
"Sir, Axel, as you already know, your Grandfather was a recently advanced 5th phase being at that time, your family was one of the top merchants. He was the best Runecaster in the entire kingdom. As far as we know, both your father and Duke Dusker, from a young age, were in love with your mother. Because of your Grandfather's existence, your mother and father married without needing to fear the Duskers. But after your Grandfather disappeared, your family's status had fallen to low ranking merchants."
"The Dusker's are preparing to do something big to the Nomrad family in 5 years of time."
Justin hesitated for a moment but still chose to speak.
"The Dusker's think that there is a secret stash of powerful artifacts left behind by your Grandfather Damien Nomrad. So, they wish to destroy your family as well as get their hands on the....."
Justine was forced to stop his words as Axel's eyes had almost turned red in rage. Killing intent was oozing out of him madly, he asked Justin in a barely suppressed anger,
"What happened to my Grandfather?"
Justin was surprised by the question, but he answered promptly,
"Sir, to be honest, we don't know what happened to him. What we do know is that he had disappeared but did not die; your family tried to make it look like he was dead. But he was not, yet whether he is currently alive or not, we have no idea."
Axel left the place and was walking back towards his inn with Neil following behind him hurriedly. His mind became a mess again. Now that he thought about it, his father had handed him so many artifacts and continued to feed him potions whenever he was injured like it was nothing.
Even if he ignored the potions part, there was no way a low-ranking merchant family should have that many artifacts. Axel had also asked Justin about his accident 2 years back, but strangely, they did not know anything about that.
The real picture of the situation slowly started to become clear to him: Duke Dusker was in love with my mother, but she loved Daniel Nomrad. Because Duke Dusker was infatuated with my mother, he mostly never treated the Duchess well enough. So, The Duchess decided to do that to my mother at that time.
The more he thought, the more rage he felt towards those fucking bastards.