Rising Prince Vs Eminence In Shadow

A Guide To Gathering Subordinates

Several weeks had passed since Corneus had turned Olba into his subordinate.

Around these weeks, be gained three more subordinates, but because they're children that were around his age and older, Olba was commanded to take care of those children.

Despite some of his concerns, the prince promised that he will be funded directly by him and that everything will be fine.

Except some headaches Olba will have of course.

Not just that, the formerly possessed children were definitely noticed by the cult, only for a moment before they were told it was a mere false alarm.

Corneus delivered the cult fake flesh dummies he created himself with a constant mana discharge, at the cost of a lot of Zeni.

Creation of those fake flesh dummies required transmuted materials, and literal gravedigging for DNA samples that were turned into those similar of the possessed children.

Also, it cost him a lot of Magical Power, despite it not even giving him trouble because of his extreme MP (Magical Power) recharge rate.

This meant he was an entire MP generator equal to three Nuclear Power Plants at their absolute limit without gaining repercussions.

All the transactions with the cult happened while he was the "Abyss Merchant", a persona of his making, perfected through a few loops.

The supposed Abyss Merchant was a man in his 50s that supposedly researched about the Possessed Children while he was selling powerful artifacts and through a deal, he managed to begin gaining tens to hundreds of thousands of Zeni in weeks.

It may turn into millions in just two months, then billions in a year. Until, he "runs out of stock" or "dies in the hands of an unknown person who hunts the shadows".

Questionably illegal, of course. But that does mean having a bigger chance of saving and protecting more Possessed Children.

Also, that meant he might have to build an orphanage in several months.

Knowing that his acts alone will attract some attention to a certain religious organization, he calculated it would be months or years before they eventually acted.

And there were also two problems: "Who will protect the children and raise them?", and "What if they find out?"

He sighed to himself, having to resort into pulling a certain women to his side, despite the

"Keikaku doori. It all goes according to my plans and strategies." Was the confident thought of our protagonist, as he decided to take a few days of rest and a few weeks of inactivity.

Weeks spent through a few training/sparring sessions with both Iris and Alexia, or even through attending a banquet and several events that meant little problem to him, including watching the yearly Bushin Festival event.

Which wasn't boring since several different skilled fighters from all around the world attended the festival.

One of them was Olba, who proceeded to rise up the ranks of the tournament with his increased strength and technique. The only problem was, he was too arrogant and prideful after he became the champion of the current Bushin Tournament, bringing honor to the Kingdom.

And he was very displeased with this.

So, the moment they returned to the castle, Corneus reprimanded Olba.

"What is it that you wish to tell me, Prince Corneus?" He asked, confused and a bit fearful because of a strangely cold gaze from the prince.

"Arrogance and pride are refreshing, right? Having an incredible power doesn't mean you should think about being on the top of the world, always think that there is someone stronger than you. Both corrupts."