The Royal Palace was an extremely magnificent and beautiful building, simply because it did not look like a normal Palace at all.
This palace had no other colors than black, purple, dark blue, in general, all dark colors, without any light at all. Suitable for the Voidveil Empire.
What was even more special was that this place had 3 main towers, reaching up to the sky, placed at 3 different corners, connected by 3 large walls, forming a perfect equilateral triangle.
And in the middle of that triangle was a large house that looked quite like a castle, and of course it was black.
Ash stood still for a moment, staring blankly at the Royal Palace, unable to take his eyes off it.
Although he had seen this scene in the game many times, this thing still looked so wonderful and majestic in real life.
'This is crazy…'
After a while, the door leading inside slowly opened, but instead of many soldiers wearing shiny armor waiting for him, there was only one old man wearing a black suit that looked quite like a butler.
This was really too much.
Was this Ash character so trash that no one really cared about him?
The old butler slowly approached Ash without saying anything. Or rather, he didn't show any expression at all.
He didn't show any interest or hatred towards Ash, but just appeared as calm as possible, as if he didn't care about anything around him. He was truly a person that was hard to understand.
The butler stopped when he was only 2 meters away from Serena and Ash, then, with gentle but polite gestures, he slowly bowed respectfully:
"Greetings, Third Prince. It seems you have returned."
Ash instantly jumped down from the black horse, looked at the butler for a moment before speaking:
"Why is no one here to welcome me?"
"Do I need to explain, sir?" The butler still spoke in a calm, unchanging tone.
"Tsk tsk tsk. What a pity, today is a happy day, but why is no one coming to welcome me?"
"A happy day?"
"That's right. Just the other day, I had successfully destroyed all the remnants of the Ur Kingdom. So isn't today a happy day?" Ash said with a meaningful smile.
The butler stood still for a moment, completely speechless.
Only after Ash waved his hand a few times in front of him was he pulled back to reality.
"In that case, please follow me. The Second Prince is waiting for you. Since he is the Chief of Staff, if you need to report or anything, just come see him."
The butler slowly turned his head and started walking back inside, not even bothering to check if Ash was following behind or not.
Realizing this unfair treatment, he did not show any dissatisfaction or displeasure, but calmly followed him, leaving the two horses that had accompanied him behind, completely ignoring their lives.
But after taking a few steps, Ash suddenly paused when he felt a strange sense of emptiness.
And when he looked around, he finally understood why.
Serena was still standing there, with no intention of following Ash into the Royal Palace.
"Wait, Butler, wait a moment." Ash ordered. Even if he was a useless person, at least simple orders like this would still be effective, right?
And fortunately, the Butler actually stopped without asking any further questions.
"You're not going with me, Serena?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but it seems like it's time for me to return to the Academy."
"Is that so…" Ash looked at her with disappointed eyes.
The only person he trusted in this world and also his Servant had left him, which meant that Ash would have to face everything that was about to happen in the Palace alone.
Without receiving any help from anyone.
"Then I'll excuse myself." Serena bowed and left, but was pulled back by the Third Prince's unexpected words.
"Wait! What year are you in Awakened Academy?"
"2nd year?" Serena tilted her head, completely not understanding the purpose of Ash's question.
"Alright, remember that I'll also be going to Awakened Academy this year and studying in the 1st year. So please take care of me, senpai!"
Hearing those words, both Serena and the butler couldn't help but be shocked. They couldn't believe that someone like Ash would say such words.
"Alright." Serena smiled back, it seemed like it was the first time Ash had seen her smile.
'She's really beautiful.'
Just like that, the two people who had fought side by side on the battlefield were now separated. But, the two of them would definitely meet again soon.
***
Walking down a maze-like hallway, Ash didn't even bother to check where he was being led as all his attention was focused on the decoration of the hallway.
Just by looking around this place, he could already tell that each painting hanging on the wall must cost more than 5 million dollars. And from just now, Ash had counted more than 100 million dollars.
He knew that the Royal Family was very rich but he never expected that they had so much money to waste like this.
"It seems like you have changed, my Prince." The butler suddenly spoke up, forcing Ash back to the harsh reality.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I just feel like you seem to have matured after being on the battlefield for so many days."
"It seems like that. People often say that the battlefield will change you." Ash didn't even know whether his previous statement was true or not but he still chose to say it.
The butler did not respond but just continued walking.
But Ash didn't know if it was his illusion or not, but it seemed like that butler was feeling depressed and disappointed.
'What did you expect, old man? I'm just a streamer, I'm not good at speaking like a noble like you guys.'
But at that moment, the butler suddenly stopped, next to him was a black door that was carved in an exquisite and eye-catching way, further proving that the room inside was not ordinary.
"We've arrived, sir." The butler slowly opened the door.
And inside, Ash saw that person - the Second Prince of the Voidveil Empire - Modric "Genius" Voidveil.
Or else: Genius of the Century.