Testing

Ethan got back to Wolfhard with the lord's response after a week, it took a while to convince his lord. A big ego is something only someone of high standing can afford to have.

With that, everything is going according to Wolfhard's plan of gaining freedom and at the same time limiting the people who are offended by his "Fake" royal prince act.

As Wolfhard predicted the testing would take place sometime after his 14 birth year (commoners don't record birthdays) as in imperial history the oldest prince to manifest his power was 14 and the Marquis who did not know how to guide Wolfhard could only push back the testing hoping Wolfhard he manifests naturally. Seeing as he was recognized as the 3rd prince the original Wolfhard must have shown his power to give the Southwest faction the courage to organize a public ceremony revealing a new prince. 

Wolfhard now must wait two years before he can escape from this remote annex, he needs to exploit this place to the fullest, once he leaves there is no coming back. Wolfhard spent his remaining time at the estate in the library reading all the books he had access to, as having a book collection is limited to the powerful, and learning knowledge through books is better than learning through mistake and failure, especially the travel stories of knights let wolfhard learn how the world works in a commoner level that isn't taught in his noble classes. 

Two years went by filled with endless books and despite his lack of talent he reached squire level in knight class, which would be an embarrassment for his age but his lack of talent and starting late was barely acceptable 

Wolfhard did accomplish hiding his power, he can spread it throughout his body so thinly that it becomes useless but at the same time invisible also during this time, he has been hinting about his desire to see the ocean so it doesn't seem he randomly want to go to the ocean and create doubt about his disappearance. 

Wolfhard is now 14 years old, in a carriage by himself traveling on the Fallen Starway, a proper road made of sand, gravel, and stone. It is called the artery of the Empire, Large-scale trade routes take this road for its superior quality, it begins in the capital the busiest port of the realm, and spread out to all the major inland cities. A large caravan with the emblem of the Goldwell family is traveling down the road and one of the middle carriages is where Wolfhard is currently sitting. Wolfhard was told the time to test his bloodline had come and to crush any dissent, the royal family would personally test him to add unquestionable legitimacy.

"What a flimsy excuse but I guess the plan is to reveal me soon after the test so it only needs to misdirect unwanted eyes for a while, too bad they don't expect the plan to fail before it even takes off".

A smirk appears on his face

The Marquis, his vassals who were following, and the caravan in its entirety kept on moving unaware of Wolfhard's intent

After almost a month on the road they finally arrive at the capital, thank god the capital of the March of Goldwell is considered a major city and one of the branches of the Fallen Starway goes through it.

Wolfhard and Marquis Steffen's carriage passes through the gate uninterrupted but the rest of the caravan must enter through the official channels and be investigated by the guards

The current emperor is considered a strong ruler, he has the capital firmly under his control as a noble entourage is afforded no liberties and must enter the same way as everyone else. (it is mostly done to project royal power onto the nobles)

"The wonderful smell of the Ocean breeze and the vibrant energy around it is worthy of being called the busiest port of the empire"

Even just passing through the gate the carriage meets a large crowd of people going about their day, lucky the captain in charge of the gate sends some man to open up a path for the carriage, after going through what seems like an endless sea of people reach the inner wall gate, it separates the noble area from the commer area.

True to its name the noble area was neat and calm. The first house close to the wall belonged to rich barons and poor counts, the closer the house was to the royal Palace the more powerful the owner of the house is, but not always do their titles reflect the power they hold. Wolfhard was taught in classes not to look down on a person solely because of their titles without knowing their background to avoid any unseen disaster.