Chapter 76: Duke Shorekeeper
"You never told me that. I see you have many secrets you haven’t told me yet," Aether said with a smile. Then he gestured to Eva and gently took the beautiful woman’s sword and shouted again:
"My name is Aether Epsilon! I am the 1937th Emperor of the Epsilon Empire. With a history of over a hundred thousand years, Epsilon has existed for a long time. The Herria family, who built the buildings, armour, weapons and heart of the Empire, the Restie family, who always cared about the wealth and loyalty of the Empire, and the Fembe family, who always cared about the protection of the Empire! The BUILDING Stones of the Empire!!!"
With Aether’s shout, everything became clear. The nobles in the room could only watch in shock and admiration, and frankly speaking, they had a hard time believing what they saw, let alone what they heard.
"By the authority vested in me by my ancestors, I hereby declare Atlas to be the fourth Duke of the Blessed Epsilon Empire since its inception!"
As Aether finished his words, he placed Eva’s sword first on Atlas’ right shoulder, then on his left shoulder, and then horizontally above his head.
Immediately after that, he uttered the following words:
"From this day on, you will be the owner of the Misty Mountains on the cold side of the Empire, west of the city of Herria. Two thousand kilometres of land around the Misty Mountains will belong to you. You will build a harbour city there, and you will be the sole guardian of its shores."
Then he smiled and said, "I bestow upon you the surname of Shorekeeper. From this day forward, you will be one of the foremost bodyguards of our empire. The people of the Empire will recognise you as a foreguard and remember you by the surname Shorekeeper. Congratulations on your position, Atlas Shorekeeper."
With those words, Atlas rose from where he had fallen to one knee and then looked around, chest high, first at his surroundings and then at the Aether.