"I can’t believe Zion intends to kill a Monarch," Michael said. "It seems like something happened between them that we don’t know about, Father." "Maybe it happened during the tournament?" Lady Callista commented. "I heard the Ashford Clan and Zion argued at the start before collaborating to make things work. Maybe he kept a grudge because of that." Arthur shook his head. "Zion may be petty and would not hesitate to return any grudges, but it doesn’t seem to be that simple. Also, he mentioned that his target was Aaron Ashford alone, not the Ashford Clan as a whole. "This means that, whatever happened between them, Aaron had done something he couldn’t forgive no matter what." Lady Callista pondered a bit before glancing at her butler, Hans. "What do you think, Hans?" Lady Callista asked. "You’ve been paying attention to my grandson years ago. Did he mention anything about his grudge against Aaron?" "No, My Lady," Hans replied. "The Young Master didn’t mention anything to me back then. Also, knowing the Young Master’s personality, he wouldn’t say such a thing in front of people he didn’t fully trust. He knows that just plotting the downfall of a Monarch can bring a calamity to the Leventis Family." Arthur, Lady Callista, and Michael all nodded in agreement. Many people hated the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families. However, they would not say these things out loud. The moment they did, and it fell on the wrong ears, these Families would definitely not let things slide. They would rather nip things in the bud rather than let it grow to threaten them. "According to Zion, Aaron will make his move after the Cygni Invasion ends," Arthur said. "And judging from the way he spoke about it, he’s implying that Aaron would get rid of him first. The downfall of the Leventis Family will follow afterward." The corner of Lady Callista’s lips curled up into a smirk. Since her grandson already knew that something like this was going to happen, he would have definitely prepared a nasty surprise for the arrogant Monarch of the Ashford Clan. ’So, that’s the reason he asked us to do that,’ Lady Callista mused. ’Zion is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ "What do you think, Father?:" Michael asked as he fixed the glasses on his face. "If multiple Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families form an alliance, can we withstand the attack of their armies?" "No," Arthur replied. "At least, that’s what our enemies think." The four people inside the room sneered at the same time. Zion had already made his arrangements years ago, which was also the reason why Arthur believed that a change in the status quo was needed. Of course, after his recent talk with his no-good grandson, Arthur realized that he might have been too hasty. Since the status quo would be broken regardless of the result of the Cygni Invasion, he decided to listen to his Grandson’s words and just sharpen his claws before the final battle. "Michael, I’ll entrust you to upgrade the defenses in our residence," Arthur stated. "Spare no effort and resource, and assume we will deal with all of the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families at the same time." "Understood, Father," Michael replied. "But what will you do for the time being?" "What else?" Arthur shrugged. "I’ll join that no-good grandson of mine when he goes to the Cygni Continent. I’ll farm as many monster materials as possible and send them all here, so you guys can process them to create weapons and armor. "The real enemy isn’t the Jinns and Majins, but our neighbors who always covet our position. Don’t spare any effort in both attack and defense. We will make sure that they will pay a hefty price for targeting our family." Michael smirked before nodding in agreement. Arthur then glanced at his wife and held her hand. Whenever he or Michael was away, it was always Lady Callista who called the shots within the Leventis Residence. "When I leave for the Cygni Continent, I’ll leave you to watch over the Fort," Arthur stated. "But if anything unexpected happens, evacuate the family to Zion’s residence in the mountains." "I know." Lady Callista nodded. While the high-ranking members of the Leventis Family were having a meeting, Thirteen was talking with Lawrence and Tristan, discussing important matters with them. "It’s fine to collaborate with the Leventis Family, but keep the two projects we’re working on as a secret," Thirteen stated. "Also, don’t give them the Core Secrets of the Military. Anything else can be traded." "Very well. We will do as you say," Lawrence replied. "Also, I have good news about the Project we’re working on. The test results conducted in the Rigel Continent are a success." "Oh?" Thirteen arched an eyebrow. "I thought it would be finished after four more months. Did you ask the engineers to work overtime or something?" "We did," Lawrence answered. "We must be prepared for any variable, so we sped things up. Don’t worry. The quality of our new trump cards didn’t diminish even though we rushed a bit." "And the results?" Thirteen asked. "It managed to withstand the joint attack of Erasmus and his two summoned beasts," Lawrence replied, taking over his father’s role. "It even managed to deal serious damage to the Undead Wyvern King and the Centipede King. Only Erasmus didn’t receive any injuries from it." Thirteen rubbed his chin before nodding in satisfaction. "Good. Well done." Lawrence sighed. "If only we are given more time, we might have been able to create one more. Unfortunately, we can only create one of them if we want to keep everything confidential." "There’s no need to feel down, Sir," Thirteen said. "How about Project Nemo? How many did you make?" "We managed to make six of them," Tristan replied proudly. "Nice." Thirteen gave the Field Marshal a thumbs up. "My Grandpa also made four of them, so that raises the firepower we can call on when the battles are near the coast." Lawrence and Tristan nodded at the same time. Before Thirteen left, he made sure to give the blueprint of two trump cards to the Central Government. One of them was Project Nemo, which he had also given to his Grandfather. The other one was Project Beowulf, which had recently undertaken tests in the Rigel Continent. Thirteen didn’t want to waste the Central Government’s vast resources and leave them idle for two years during his training in Solterra. Since the goal of the military had always been to protect the human race as a whole, there was no reason for him to not give them some benefits that would allow them to do their mission. "I have a question, Zion," Tristan asked. "Just where did you get these blueprints? They are too advanced for the technology that this world currently possesses." "Laplace Demon gave them to me as a reward," Thirteen answered. "He’s worried about Pangea being overrun by Jinns, so he made an exception and shared these blueprints with me." Thirteen knew that sooner or later, his allies would question where he got the blueprints for powerful weapons of war, which surpassed what the military currently had. However, since he couldn’t say he made the blueprint himself, he decided to use Laplace Demon as a scapegoat again. After all, no one would question the right-hand man of "The One." Any further discussion about the topic would come to a dead end. Anything related to the Laplace Demon and The One was considered taboo by many, and they didn’t wish for these two powerful beings to set their sights on them for trying to pry in their secrets.