A Dragon’s Curiosity

The elf had a quick mind and figured out why the two orders were neutral rather than seen attached to the crown and royal family.

After joining as knights and achieving success in their cultivation, the young men and women who were shunned and discarded by their family would not harbour good feelings for them and would stand on the side of the order instead.

Perhaps they would help those in the same position as them in the branch family they came from, but their existence alone was a counterweight for the organisations and families they originated from.

Concurrently, the royal family allowed the peripheral members insight into the minds of the royal family and their activities through the missions at the orders in addition to a pile of resources at a small price, which promoted a healthy balance between both sides.

As such, the orders remained neutral and became a channel of communication between vested interests.

“Shouldn‘t you aim to enter the Order of the Lion then? It sounds like the better option.“

Nisha did not think about their social status or focused on the requirement that only nobles were allowed to enter the order.

It was mainly attributed to the difference in responsibilities, it seemed like the knights under the Lion banner had more free time to focus on cultivation and the missions were easier.

“No, those who enter the Order of the Lion renounce their family ties and swear to follow for a lifetime.

Although it is a great place to grow and pick up the skills needed for a proper knight, I don‘t want to forsake my family name or only look for an easy way.

My end goal is to accumulate experience and insight into how a knight order works, so when my cultivation shows signs of slowing down, I can leave the Order of the Rose and start something on my own.

Dukedoms usually have a knight order of their own, only the Dharnas family does not have one yet as our line is still too young compared to the old names that followed Leandar since the founding of the kingdom.

Perhaps the goal of an independent order is a bit too much, though it would definitely help if our territory had an experienced knight that could train more forces.“

If an outsider was present, they would have to admit that Henry was not guarded against his adopted sibling at all.

He easily revealed his plans and vision for the future, not worried at all that the elf might develop plans to deal with him in order to take over the title of Duke in the future.

Nisha similarly never had any thoughts of going against Henry for something as meaningless as the noble title of a human kingdom.

It was quite ironic, they just talked about the younger generations of similar families that did not hesitate to rob their family members to the point where they had nothing left just to increase their chances of inheriting an important position in the future, whereas the two candidates in the Dharnas family could barely care less about the matter of inheritance.

“That‘s an admirable aspiration. Compared to the Order of the Lion, how difficult is it to leave the Order of the Rose?

It should not be a lifelong commitment either, right?“

Although the second order needed to cover a wide territory and likely had a range of difficult missions in exchange for cultivation resources, it was not a bad deal to attract talent and nurture them.

And despite being able to leave, the magicians and warriors who managed to find a way out thanks to the order would surely be grateful as well despite no longer being part of them.

Once the order called them, they were likely to answer with sincerity.

Nisha inwardly praised the people who came up with the idea of establishing a knight order, it achieved several goals at once with the least cost and wielded considerable power.

“Yes, the oath to enter mainly contains the commitment to protect the kingdom, the humans living in it and protect everyone against the enemies invading the land, until one is relieved from their oath.

From what I know, each cultivation rank has a corresponding number of missions that need to get accomplished as well as an amount of resources to be repaid, then it‘s possible to leave the order in good graces.

The problem is that most people like to use up their resources and then take up a mission to earn more of them, which prevents them from parting with the organisation.“

As the heir of a noble title, Henry did not need to spend much effort to find the specifics of the oath required to enter the knight order.

Whereas his friend and others in a similar position entered the orders as a last resort, the young blonde man had a different ambition altogether.

He did not explicitly mention it, yet the dragon was aware of his concerns.

Similar to the gulf between the third and fourth rank, it was barely a small ditch compared to the difficulty of breaking through the sixth rank and entering the domain of mighty seven rank beings.

It was also called the second great divide in cultivation, a threshold that few warriors and magicians ever managed to encounter in their lifetime.

Without managing to make it through that obstacle and entering the world of grandmasters, it would be difficult for Henry to establish his own order or make significant contributions to the lands under the Dharnas Dukedom.

Nisha still thought it was a nice dream and wished him success in his endeavours, although several questions remained that were burning on her tongue.

“I always thought you would eventually take over as the Great Marshal one day or manage an official position with similar esteem.“

After going through many etiquette classes and lessons from Galan to the point where the head butler deemed her barely a noble lady and presentable, the elf had a fairly good understanding of the inner workings of the kingdom on the whole.

Official positions were necessary to run the day to day workings of society as a whole, and nobles and citizens alike could get appointed to the relevant posts.

The appointed officials were given face just about the same as their respective noble titles, meaning that minor, regular and great officials usually wielded power about the same as Barons, Counts and Dukes.

Contrary to an inherited title, officials needed the corresponding skill and expertise to get appointed and it was difficult to meddle with the choice of new magistrates, as it was handled directly by the crown.

Minor officials could still be chosen in advance by local nobles and often got appointed later on after the noble made an application in the capital, but that was limited to remote areas with little to no real consequences.

Starting with regular officials, trying to meddle with the authority of officials and attempting to force their own candidate into a specific position was risky for nobles as well, as they could get punished harshly once discovered.

In Nisha‘s opinion, Henry had talent as a cultivator, studied under Galan and in the military at a young age and was about to graduate from the Royal Academy after making it to the fourth rank as a warrior.

He was the ideal candidate to get an appointment as an official and could perhaps strive to get promoted to the position of a great official just like his father when there was a suitable opening or take over as the Grand Marshal one day in case Luthais Dharnas ever wished to retire.

Compared to the route of an official and powerful figure in the capital of the kingdom, it seemed to be a bit of a shame to enter a knight order and train for maybe dozens of turns in preparation of establishing his own force.

“Did no one tell you?“

Henry looked rather perplexed after listening to the elf and he looked like he was caught off guard by her inquiry.

By this point, he had sent away his two familiars to play by themselves, so it was just the two of them in the back portion of the garden.

“Tell me what?“

Nisha was similarly bewildered and could not understand why the youth was suddenly looking around and looked so grave.

They were merely discussing possible future paths, and that did not warrant such an urgent response, right?

“Wait a moment and follow me.“

Instead of directly answering, Henry held up his hand and scanned their surroundings first.

After ascertaining that no one was listening in or was in sight distance, the young man led the elf to a wooden pavilion a distance away from the walls and the main house.

Sitting inside the structure, they could keep an eye on the surroundings and notice it in advance if anyone tried to come close.

Henry even scanned the surroundings a second time, which only raised the girl‘s interest towards what exactly needed to be so secretive.

“I suppose it would not have come up yet in a conversation, so you are still not aware of our position.“

The start was rather foreboding, but the dragon was not in a rush and kept her silence.

“First of all, neither you nor I will ever hold an official position in our lifetimes.“

Nisha‘s first reaction was an instinctive denial.

Whether they were related or not did not matter at this moment, the dragon was in charge of her own decisions and no one was able to tell her what she could and could not do, not Henry, not anyone.

Hot words of rebuke were already on the tip of her tongue, ready to challenge the young man‘s statement, yet the elf barely held herself back.

Henry had no reason to target her in particular, so there was likely more to his words than their surface look.

The blonde knight-to-be did not disappoint her trust either, he followed up quickly to assuage the surge of feelings he detected on her face.

“It‘s not because you or I lack the necessary skills or the drive to take up office, it‘s related to our family name instead.

We have to take a look at grandfather‘s time to find the first reason and it‘s rather simple.

When grandpa Eldrin and grandma Tania fell in love, grandfather had the cultivation but not the land to take up a title higher than baron.

While the late king did his best to help out and grandpa Eldrin worked hard to grow his estate once he and grandmother decided they wanted to get married in the future, it‘s hard to make something out of nothing.“

Hearing the name of her late grandfather all of a sudden, the familiar dull ache sat in her stomach and painfully reminded her that he was forever gone.

Although time had dulled the burning agony to a more subdued bearable misery, it would never heal fully.

Despite the sudden malady, the elf also recognized the name of her grandmother, who she never met.

Titiana Loewe, sister of the late king and aunt of the current ruler of Leandar, gave up the life and luxuries in the palace and married outside, making her stand out from the other royal relatives.

Due to her human bloodline, she departed the world earlier than her husband and the girl had only heard her name a single time, when Eldrin Dharnas was still unaware of the dragon‘s true nature back in the [Royal Hunting Grounds].

Perhaps, it was too much for the old man too whenever he was reminded of his late wife, a similar ache plaguing him at those times.

“Because grandpa Eldrin had a high cultivation level and sufficient drive, he managed to obtain the title and matching lands of a Viscount by the time he married grandma Tania.

Most nobles expected that he would be given another promotion to Count as a wedding gift and planned to pull him into their factions, yet the late king went against the reservations and dissenting voices of the court and noble families and forcefully bestowed the title of Duke on grandpa on their wedding day.

Grandmother brought the towns and villages belonging to the current Dharnas estate into the union as her dowry, which allowed the combined estate to barely qualify as superior to a Count, but the forceful manner of the appointment also offended the remaining nobility.“