In the Baron's mansion, at the door of his study room, Flavian rubbed his sweaty hands together and breathed in really hard. He was escorted in by a young boy and faced five old men waiting for him in the study.
"Why is this boy here? Aren't we waiting for that troublesome woman with the dazzling blue eyes?" one of the men with a dragon tattoo on his bald head had said. Flavian knew it was his mom he was talking about. He squeezed his hands tighter and prayed more in his head.
"Hey listen Avil, you're probably the one who brought me into this world to live after I died, right? You're not gonna let them kill me off so soon, right? I mean sure I'm just a commoner with a strange birthmark on my back and I have well functioning organs that could be sold off to make useful potions and random sorcery but you wouldn't let them do that to me, right? Right? Right?" Flavian was all up in head before the Baron called his name.
"Flavian-Neel?" the baron and the other four men were staring at him.
"Yes, sir?" Flavian snapped back into reality and looked at them.
"You are Livianna Floy's son right?" he asked.
"Yes, I am," Flay replied.
"Oh, so you're that fool's son, eh?" The tattooed man asked before snickering.
"I am afraid, sir," Flavian cursed the man silently. "May I ask what she has done this time, sirs?"
"You poor boy. Since you were trembling even as you came in here, I'll cut to the chase. Your mother was involved in a heist gone wrong involving a small criminal group called 'Faros Men' and people from my clothing business 'Serene'. One of the Faro's Men had your mother dispose of our new textile plans, written on paper, into the chemicals used for preparing bath formalae at that bathhouse she works in," the bald man explained.
From that explanation, Flavian knew who that man was. Mr Seams, the owner of the popular clothing line: Serene. Serene also works hand in hand with Baron Oswald which uses the profits to form new businesses and improve his territories. A loss to Serene is a loss to the Baron. Flavian could see how everything was related now.
Mr Seams continued after clearing his throat : "Worry not. We did a thorough investigation and found out that your mother was not actually working for them and they were working for one of our competitors which we have apprehended,"
"Though your mother was tricked into it, that does not exempt her from punishment," Baron Oswald said. Flavian swallowed hard again. "This is where you come into play, Flavian-Neel,"
"What!?" both Flay and Mr Seams exclaimed. Flavian's eyes changed from blue to gold.
"That's some interesting quirk you've got there, boy," the Baron smiled at him. Flavian covered his eyes with his hands, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, I can't really control this," Flavian said as he dropped his hands and his eyes changed back to blue. The five men stared at him surprised, one of them even clapped because it was something he'd never seen before.
"Back to the topic, you are going to be replacing one of the representatives that would serve the Emperor during the Succession ceremony in four days," the Baron smiled.
"What...!?" both Flavian and Mr Seams exclaimed at the same time.
"But Oswa... I mean Baron Oswald, we can't just send anyone to represent this village in the Succession Ceremony. I mean the village of Hanso is one of the three most prominent villages in the Kingdom of Kalama and Kalama is the capital kingdom of the Solaria Empire. Therefore, we can not afford to mess things up by sending just anyone to represent us this time," Mr Seams said while Flavian nodded in agreement.
The Succession Ceremony is a special ceremony in the kingdom where the heir to the Emperor's throne is declared and acknowledged by the Emperor. Usually, an angel from the heavens called 'Aries' arrives and blesses the heir with a kiss on the forehead. Before the ceremony, Solaria would send two messages to the Empire's Great Temple. The first message would be the day of the ceremony and the second message is a secret message for the Emperor. Though, this time, the goddess had been silent on the second message. This has made people wary and perceive this as an omen. People are scared that the goddess my be angry about something and preparations for that day have been taken much more seriously than ever.
"I know what you think, we might mess things up and cause a serious problem, right?" the baron asked. Flavian, Mr Seams and the other men looked at each other, confused. "Well there's a reason I specifically wanted Flavian-Neel Floy," the baron said that as he stood up and walked towards a movable board, covered with a sheet and was located at the side of the room. He dragged it to the middle of the room for everyone to see and pulled off the sheet. There was a lot of confusing information but at the center of the board, Flavian's name was printed in bold.
"Umm, excuse me,' Flavian raised his hand. All the attention was on him. "Did I specifically do anything to instigate a full on investigation on myself?"
"Sit down boy, cuz I've got a lot to tell you," the Baron smiled with all pleasure.
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