2. Shadow

Jack knocks on the door and waits for his father to answer. Just after a few moments, he hears a familiar voice.

"Come in"

Jack follows suit as the guards open the door and close it immediately.

The room was quite big and resembled an office come library as dozens of bookshelves were lined up neatly on both sides of the room. A big rectangular table stood in the middle of the room made of polished high-quality wood, its edges housed beautiful engravings of trees made of gold. Luxurious chairs were neatly arranged on both sides of the table and at the head table was the seat that would be his in upcoming years.

Jack's attention was instantly grabbed by a thin man seated at the left side of Duke's seat, as all other chairs were empty. The man looked tired and sleep-deprived as he rummaged through the pile of papers in front of him. The man had long black hair tied in a ponytail and a diamond-shaped face with a clean shave. He wore a simple but luxurious blue jacket over a white shirt and pants.

"Good morning, Sir Albert "

"..."

"..."

Annoyed, Jack goes forward and puts his hand over Albert's thin shoulder.

"AHHH ... GOD!!! , oh it's you, young master, please don't scare me like that my poor heart just jumped out my mouth. "

Albert was so startled that he nearly jumped from his seat.

Albert was the prime minister of the duchy. A hidden gem found by his grandfather, he was of a commoner origin and held the title of honorary count which was bestowed by the King himself. He had a natural talent for mathematics and finance management. Before becoming prime minister of the duchy he worked as a math professor in the most prestigious academy of the kingdom.

Jack was curious as to why someone like him chose to get involved in dirty politics and wanted to ask why Albert quit being a professor and decided to come back to the duchy but decided against it. Now was not the right time. He had more pressing matters to address anyway. So he just simply asked what he needed the most at this time.

"I wasn't trying to scare you or anything Sir Albert, it's just that you were so engrossed in your work that you didn't even hear me earlier. Could you tell me where Father is "

Albert points towards the big balcony at the end of the room and resumes his work as if he wasn't even scared to death just a moment ago.

"He is sitting on the balcony "

Jack leisurely strode forward and arrived at the balcony. In front of him lay a vast expanse of land filled with buildings of various sizes and colors. The Dragontail City. The heart and pride of Ignis Duchy.

This ancient city had existed even before Ignis Duchy. it had withstood numerous trials of nature and bloody human wars . The tall stone walls surrounding it had turned red from the amount of blood spilled on them throughout history. Four magic towers stood tall with pride surrounding the city in their strong protective embrace.

Jack always marveled about the fact who created this ancient city. It was marvelous architecture. It was divided into four sections of concurrent circles. every section was divided by a tall stone wall with the castle at the innermost circle. Its sewage and drainage system of top-notch and yet to fail.

But what really made this more incredible was its people It was one of few remaining cities in the continent that wasn't under the influence of one single religion . People here practiced many different religions and religious discrimination was strictly banned by the Ignis family. Racial discrimination was never an issue in the first place as over eighty percent of population was of immigrants who chose to live here under the rule of the Ignis family and the remaining twenty percent were local people who had accepted the rule of his family with open arms many centuries ago.

He was very proud of Dragontail City. His city!

He leisurely sat on the chair and poured himself a tea.

"Since when did you start to drink tea"

A man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties spoke with a carefree voice that indicated he wasn't expecting an answer at all. But Jack knew better than to ignore it, so he answered while comfortably enjoying his tea.

"Starting from now"

With the same carefree tone to annoy his father.

"And what brings you here "

'So bitter'

He puts the cup down takes out an obsidian black wooden box from his pocket and hands it over.

Jack finally looks at his father, his father looked exactly like him no it was the opposite he was a spitting image of his father. with only a few differences to tell them apart his father was more taller and muscular than him as Jack was still in the growing phase, unlike Jack whose silver-white hair reached up to his back, Joshua's hair was short his face also had a mature feeling to it, unlike jacks whose face looked young.

But the most striking difference was eyes Unlike Jack, Joshua's black eyes hide something vast and unfathomable in them like a deep well of darkness.

Jack felt uncomfortable whenever in stared at them for long.

"Okay, what about it "

Joshua puts the letter back into the box as he drinks the tea from the cup.

"ah...It got cold "

annoyed he puts cup back on the table and watches Jack from the corner of his eye.

Jack speaks

"Where did you find it?"

"I can't tell you right now "

"So why did you give such a classified item to me "

"This box isn't classified, son "

"So the place you found it in is ?"

"Yes "

"Father, what is pride ?"

"Salt"

"Ahh..  please elaborate"

"Have you ever eaten food without salt "

"Yes "

"How did it taste"

"There wasn't a taste to begin with "

"See Pride is like Salt, if you put too much of it foods taste awful and salty, sometimes it becomes poisonous even, and just like you said if don't have enough it becomes tasteless .pride is also the same it good to have pride but its poisonous if you too much of it

When used in moderation, it adds flavor and meaning to life. It's a source of self-respect and confidence, driving us to achieve our goals and uphold our values. However, excessive pride can be detrimental, leading to arrogance, conflict, and isolation.

So here is a piece of advice for you son no how strong you get never be too proud of yourself it makes you underestimate your opponents, like him "

"huh .... like who exac... "

Before Jack could even finish his sentence, before his eyes could react, and even before his mind could comprehend the meaning behind his father's words . A series of events took place on the balcony.

A shadowy figure emerged from the shadow cast by Jack and his chair , The door of the room burst open as two knights in black armor rushed towards Balcany with stunning speed. Their speed was so fast that it generated shockwaves that traveled throughout the room which caused the table to explode in splinters of wood. Albert was thrown away due to a shockwave with enough force that he broke through two of the bookshelves without even slowing down.

On the balcony

Joshua's right hand shot forward with unfathomable speed the sheer force of wind generated by the strike was enough to destroy the whole section of the balcony but miraculously nothing happened as the space around Joshua's right hand twisted and cracked as it pierced through the chest of the shadowy figure.

Before the blood could even be splatter on the ground, two black knights appeared each holding a Jian with a long crystal white blade clad in raging bildlingly bright blue flames.