Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 195: Vassals of the Duchy (4)

Chapter 195: Vassals of the Duchy (4)

As time passed, it was time for the ball. It was evening, the sun had set, and the chairs and poles in the huge garden of Shadowfall Palace were covered with lamps.

Everyone had dressed in their finest clothes and attended the ball.

Nearly three hundred members of the nobility were gathered at Shadowfall Palace. Many were chatting, the nobles standing in groups, most of them gathered around Emperor Aether and Empress Aelia.

Atlas, meanwhile, was in his chambers with Cassandra. Cassandra had chosen Atlas’s clothes as usual and was waiting to make the final touches to his hair.

’You have one more year to reach marriageable age,’ Cassandra said suddenly.

Atlas rolled his eyes and teased, ’Thanks again for sharing what a terrible adult you are.’

After finishing all their preparations, the two left their room; it was time for the ball to begin.

When they reached the door leading to the ballroom, which was filled with people inside and out, they stopped. Emma, standing right in front of the door, opened the two large doors and shouted as the sound of the doors caught everyone’s attention:

’Duke Atlas Shorekeeper and Cassandra Leonardi are entering the hall!’

With Emma’s shout, even the nobles in the garden immediately entered the ballroom. Every pair of eyes was fixed on Atlas and Cassandra.

Atlas’s hair was adorned with a flower clip at Cassandra’s insistence; he wore a jet-black, royal attire covered in stars, and the brooch his sister had given him was pinned to the outfit.

Cassandra, as always, wore a black and purple dress that accentuated her beauty to an extraordinary degree. The dress was covered in star-like sparkles, just like Atlas’s attire. The dress was so long that it touched the ground and even dragged along the floor.

There was no way anyone who saw them could resist being enchanted.

The two descended the staircase, and then Atlas’s voice was heard:

"I would like to thank each of you for attending this ball, which I have organised to announce that I have officially taken over as the First Duke of the Fourth Duchy of the Epsilon Empire and will fully assume control next year. My dear Cassandra has spent weeks preparing for this event, so please enjoy everything to your heart’s content. It is an honour to host you."

As Atlas spoke these words, a group of musicians consisting of dozens of vampires began to play music, dozens of servants suddenly entered the hall, and dozens of cocktails and snacks began to be distributed to the guests.

Thus, nearly two hours had passed. The conversations of dozens of people, the banter between kings and emperors, and many other things had taken place in the hall, and now the time had finally come.

When Atlas signalled to Cassandra, Cassandra tapped her glass a few times with her fingernail. The clinking sound echoed through the hall as if someone had tapped the glass with a spoon, and everyone’s eyes turned to Cassandra, and thus to Atlas.

Atlas, meanwhile, signalled to Emma, Iso, and Lynx, waiting for the three of them to gather themselves.

’I have experienced many things. Truly. Yet I did not experience these many things alone. I can say that there are valuable people with whom I have shared much knowledge, many images, and many events. People, I wish to take under my wing after becoming a Duke,’ Atlas said suddenly.

"As a Duke of the Empire, I have sixteen nobles under my command, and this grants me the right to bestow the title of Baron upon sixteen individuals and also take them as my vassals," he added to his own words.

Immediately afterwards, he pointed to Emma and said, ’Now you understand what I’m trying to do.’

Emma’s family, the highest ranks of the Crocs clan, were naturally very surprised when they first heard about her change of surname. They naturally did not think that anyone would be crazy enough to do such a thing.

However, when Emma’s father confronted her and asked if she was sure, and saw how serious she was and how much she trusted Atlas, he accepted it.

In short, Emma had already become independent from the Crocs family, at least in terms of her surname.

"Emma Crocs has abandoned the Crocs surname at my request. Emma will be the one responsible for protecting Shorekeeper City. This woman, you see before you and her descendants will be the chief guardians of the Shorekeeper lineage in the future, and from this day forward, they will be known by a single surname," Atlas said suddenly.

Immediately after that, he pulled out his sacred sword from his inventory, touched Emma’s right shoulder first, then her left shoulder, then held the sword above her head, and then said the following words:

"Rise! Emma Fort, never kneel in order to protect your lord."

With Atlas’s words, Emma stood up and waited proudly in a ready position.

Atlas reached into his inventory again and took out the family crest that had been discussed over the past few days, the one to be given to Emma.

On the coat of arms was a shield made by Atlas, with two swords behind it. Above the shield and swords was a star—the star of Shorekeeper. The only star that will never fade and will spread hope throughout the world from the Epsilon Continent as if it were a beacon of light.

When Atlas handed the coat of arms to Emma, she finally relaxed and stepped back a few paces, saying calmly, "My lord, I am at your service."

At that moment, everyone at the ball paused for a few seconds. No one dared to speak. What was happening could even be seen as defying the power of the Empire. After all, even those in Atlas’s hands possessed a power millions of times greater than that of the Empire.

Nevertheless, everything changed in an instant when Emperor Aether and Empress Aelia began to applaud. With that, it was revealed that Atlas and the Imperial Family had planned everything together.