Chương 82: Chapter : 82

+++ Chapter: 82 As he shuffled down the corridor, passing by all the girls standing in front of their doorways, Ken let out a long, quiet breath. He looked at Naomi, who was giving him a strict but friendly look. He looked at Sayma, who offered a warm, maternal smile. He looked at Laxmi, Zinia, and Luna, who were all chatting easily. Even Ira, standing flatly by her door, didn't seem as intimidating anymore. Ken realized something as he reached the handle of his own dusty bedroom door. They weren't glaring at him.

They weren't calling him a useless commoner or treating him like a piece of garbage that got stuck to their shoes. They were sharing their secrets with him. They were letting him tease them. They were actually treating him like he belonged there.

"Well, look at that," Ken thought to himself, a genuine, completely un-faked smile appearing on his face.

"I am the lazy, messy farm boy who complains about walking up stairs, but they actually accept me. This is a very weird, very powerful, highly complicated family." He opened his bedroom door and stepped inside. He was still fully determined to avoid as much work as humanly possible, and he was still never going to reveal his true, god-like power to them.

"But I guess," Ken mumbled to himself, falling backward onto his lumpy mattress, "being a part of this weird family isn't the absolute worst thing in the world. As long as they let me take my naps."

Ken Eliot was sitting at the large wooden table in the strategy room, staring blankly at a half-empty glass of water. It was late in the afternoon. After the surprisingly nice walking tour of the girls' bedrooms, Ken had fully planned to go straight back to his dusty room and sleep until the next morning. But as usual, his plans were completely ruined. Princess Iris had called an emergency meeting. The entire 13th Unit was gathered around the table. The mood was a mix of exhaustion and nervous energy.

They had survived their first deadly B-rank mission, but the reality of the Succession War was starting to sink in.

"I don't understand why we have to have a meeting right now," Ken complained loudly, resting his chin on the table. He looked at Naomi, who was standing across from him.

"Can't we talk about war and politics tomorrow? My brain is officially closed for business today. I need to recharge my creative juices." Naomi crossed her arms and glared at him.

"You don't have any creative juices, Ken. You just want to take a nap. Sit up straight and pay attention. The Princess has important news." Laxmi, the hot-headed fire user, leaned back in her chair and kicked her boots up onto the edge of the table.

"Yeah, farm boy. Stop whining. We actually won today. We got our twenty points! We should be celebrating, not having a boring meeting." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Please remove your feet from the table, Laxmi," Sayma said politely, pushing her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"We cannot celebrate yet. Winning one mission does not mean we are safe. We need to understand the larger picture." Luna, the lightning user, let out a massive yawn. She was resting her head on her arms, looking like she was already half-asleep.

"Sayma is right," Luna mumbled.

"But Ken is also right. Meetings are very tiring." Princess Iris walked into the room, carrying a large, rolled-up piece of thick paper. She didn't look angry, but her violet eyes were very serious. She unrolled the paper and spread it flat across the center of the wooden table. Ken leaned forward slightly. It was a highly detailed map of the entire Belmontia Imperial Capital.

"Thank you all for coming," Princess Iris said, looking around at her team.

"I know you are all tired. But now that the Tutorial Phase is over and the real war has begun, we need to talk about the grand scale of this competition." Zinia, the tough earth magic user, cracked her knuckles.

"What do you mean, Princess? We just fight the bad guys, get points, and win, right?"

"It is not that simple," Iris explained, pointing down at the map.

"The Emperor did not just hand us missions and tell us to fight. He specifically arranged the living situations for all twenty-one Royal candidates. Look here." She tapped several different spots scattered across the massive city map.

"The Emperor assigned every single Prince and Princess to a different location," Iris continued.

"Some are placed in the wealthy Inner City. Some are near the military barracks. Some, like us, are placed closer to the outer districts. He did this on purpose. He wants to see how we handle our environments. He wants to see how we manage our territory." Ken tilted his head, looking at the map.

"So it is basically a giant game of real estate? That sounds incredibly boring. Do we get to charge the other Princes rent if they walk on our grass?" Ira, the quiet water user, stared at Ken with a completely flat, deadpan expression.

"No, Ken. It is not a real estate game. It means the Emperor placed us strategically to force us into conflicts with each other."

"Exactly," Sayma agreed, looking at the map closely.

"If two Royals are placed near the same resource point, they will naturally fight over it. It is a calculated move to thin out the competition." Princess Iris nodded slowly.

"Yes. And that brings me to our specific living situation." Iris moved her finger across the map until she pointed directly at their own location. They were staying in a very old, crumbling estate on the edge of the capital. But Iris's finger wasn't just pointing at their house. She traced a small red circle that had been drawn around their property.

"When the Emperor assigned us this estate," Iris said, her voice growing a bit tighter, "he gave us a plot of land that measures exactly five acres. It is not a very large space. But here is the problem. We are not the only ones living inside this five-acres circle." Naomi frowned, leaning over the table.

"What do you mean? This is our headquarters. Who else is living here?" Iris took a deep breath.

"The Emperor split this specific acre of land perfectly down the middle. We have the crumbling estate on the left side. And right next door, sharing the exact same property line, is a newly renovated, highly expensive mansion." The room went completely quiet for a second.

"Wait," Laxmi said, her eyes narrowing.

"Are you telling me we share a backyard with another Royal candidate?"

"Yes," Iris confirmed. Ken threw his hands up in the air.

"Oh, come on! You have got to be kidding me! We have roommates? I hate roommates! Who is it? Is it the guy who drinks too much wine? Because if he plays loud music at two in the morning, I am going to throw a potato through his window." Princess Iris looked at Ken, and then she looked at Naomi and Sayma.