"Why are we here?" Rin asked as she walked beside him on the training grounds of the old castle. This was the original Castle of the Dragon Monarch, but it's now known as the old castle.
The old castle wasn't abandoned, even though the entire Royal Family stopped staying there around a year ago. It was still used for many activities.
This was the place where Aditya brought slaves with the intention of turning them into loyal soldiers for the Istarin Empire. To this day, this tradition is still being upheld. But in place of Aditya, someone else was now in charge.
Even today, a high-ranked Military officer personally sees the recruitment of soldiers. Around 60% of those who gathered here today were slaves who were either brought or the Empire received from conquering other Empires.
When the Istarin Empire conquers another Kingdom or Empire, money and land aren't the only things that Aditya gets. In every Empire, some individuals are enslaved. He takes responsibility for their care and well-being.
Around 2,500 slaves have gathered here today. Not everyone is fit to become troops for the Istarin Empire. But there may be some potential candidates who can.
Besides, recruiting slaves and training them to be soldiers is usually a cheaper process, but not by much. It's not like the slaves and the regular recruits are given different treatment. Once a slave officially becomes a soldier, the slave and his family are freed. They become citizens of the Istarin Empire.
And those who don't get recruited are sent to near by villages to cultivate and live their lives. After a period of 10 to 15 years, depending on their contribution level, the slaves were given their freedom and allowed to continue living where they had settled.
"Wait!! Wait!!! Why are you explaining all this to me instead of answering my question?" Rin did not understand.
"Hahaha!!! I guess I was distracted."
"Well, the reason I brought you here is because I wanted to give you a tour of the old Castle," Aditya said as he stared at the recruiting scene before him.
The recruitment process was simple: if anyone had any kind of unique talent in fighting, they would be immediately accepted, as experience is very highly valued. As for those who don't have any talent, a test is used. They are given a small piece of mana stone. If they can absorb this mana within a certain number of seconds, then they are accepted.
Similar tests are also conducted. Those who fail today can come again on other days in hopes of passing any of those tests and being accepted into the military.
"Actually, I came here on my 3rd day with Julia."
"I wanted to see the place where you grew up."
Then she looked at the people standing multiple long lines and added. "I must say, I have never seen such unique methods of recruiting troops." Last time, Julia told her that Aditya had come up with all these methods.
"Well, now you have." Aditya noticed the recruiter looking at them and was about to approach him with the intention of greeting the Emperor.
But he just waved his hand and signaled him to continue with his work before he took Rin's hand and walked inside the Castle.
"Sometimes, I like to come here and read books in my bedroom." They were walking towards the second floor, where his bedroom was located.
"When I was nothing, I had this place. So this place always will be special in my heart." This is also why he never demolished this old castle. Returning here makes him realize just how far he has come and just how much he has grown as a man.
"I heard you used to be an alcohol addict." She said as she climbed the stairs with him.
Aditya stopped and nodded his head without looking at her.
"That was the dark phase of my life."
"I hated myself."
"I hated the fact that I wasn't good enough to protect and save this Kingdom that my father handed to me from the greedy nobles and outsiders."
"With each passing day, the situation around the Kingdom just got worse. The worse things became, the more hopeless I felt and the more I hated myself."
"In short, this was a toxic cycle that just kept getting worse."
"In the end, I even thought of taking my own life and ending it all." That was when A new Aditya was born.
"What changed?" She asked in a very low tone.
"I don't know. One day, I woke up feeling very motivated. I felt like I had become a different man."
"From then, I never looked back."
"You know? In those days, I constantly went to the library in hopes of expanding my knowledge so that I wouldn't be outdone."
"I did not want to feel that I wasn't good enough."
"I bravely faced every challenge."
"Even when we were against the odds, we still won. We destroyed everyone who stood in our path."
"This wouldn't have been possible with Julia, Watson, Alicia, and others." Looking back, without them, he might have been forced to run from his own capital, and the present might have looked a lot different.
"Now, my biggest challenge is the Tomb of black Tomb."
"This is why I am not taking you with me." He turned around and said to her.
Before she could say anything, he continued.
"In the Dragon Palace, you all will be protected. But in the void or in the Main Continent, not even I could guarantee all of your protection."
"I know you want to return home and get revenge, but please wait a little more time."
"Allow me to test the waters of the Main Continent. Once I know for certain that things are safe out there, I will bring you all with me. After all, my final destination is the Main Continent."
The Main Continent is the center of everything in this universe. Even though Aditya was exiled, he long planned to eventually return there and expand his Istarin Empire there as well.
'The six continents are just too small for the Dragon Monarch.'
'The perfect throne of the Dragon Palace is in the Main Continent.'
Aditya hasn't even reached his full potential, yet he already had the entire six continents on their knees.
No one could challenge him.
No one dared to say anything against him.
Every King and Ruler had to lower their heads in front of him.
Even the most arrogant man on the sixth continent had to swallow his pride before the Dragon Monarch.
Tomorrow, if he declared that he wanted to take the whole Beast Continent, then no one would dare to stop him.
He was the Emperor of the Empire, which is known as the Graveyard of all Empires.
This is the domination of the Dragon Monarch.
When he started, he had nothing, and within one and a half years, no one was above him.
He rose from the ashes and became Supreme ONE.
"I understand, my Dragon Monarch." Rin playfully wrapped her around his neck and then kissed his cheeks.
She loved him.
He loved her.
For now, that was enough.
"Continue training under Lilith. I am sure you will become the strongest among your sisters." She had the potential to be the strongest in his harem.
He also wrapped his arms around her soft and slim waist and then pulled her closer to his body. "And I promise, once I have helped Laura, I will take you to get your revenge on the Main Continent."
"Thank you, Aditya! Meeting you in the spiritual world was the best thing that happened to me." She put her head on his chest and said with a content smile.
"What about the moment when you awakened as the Divine Dragon?" He asked her with a teasing smile.
Rin's smile froze for a second before she cleverly replied. "If I wasn't a Divine Dragon, then I wouldn't have been captured by those people, and I wouldn't have met you either."
"I cannot rank these two best moments of my life. These two moments have almost the same weight in my heart but for different reasons."
"Hahaha! You're so cute." Aditya started kissing her cheeks.
They were about to do some steamy stuff when they noticed two maids staring at them from a distance.
When Rin saw the maids, she pushed him and awkwardly looked out the window. Her whole face was red. Meanwhile, the maids giggled before quickly running away from the Emperor's sight.
Sigh.....!!!
Aditya couldn't help but sigh. When he was finally about to make some progress, this had to happen.....!!
'Whatever! I still have infinite time on my hands. I will take this slowly.'
"Do you want to go anywhere else?" Aditya asked.
"I thought you would be busy making preparations for your long journey." In other words, she was asking if he had anything important to do.
"Don't worry. My man Spencer is really good. He is a gem."
"He knows what to do in my absence." Given how the current Istarin Empire was functioning, Aditya would disappear for over a year, and no one would notice a damn thing. Everything would operate smoothly; no one would think that their Emperor had gone to the Main Continent.
"That's good to know! I want to see your bedroom. Last time, I did not get the chance as the maids were cleaning your room."
"Well, that's where I was taking you."
"Since we are going there, I am going to give you some important lessons." With a naughty smile, he led her to his bedroom and then shut the door from inside.
"What lessons?"
"I won't speak."
"I want to show through my actions." Saying that he started removing his clothes....
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