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Besides the three major arcade games, Caelan also launched two free games.
Free Game One: Bubble Bobble.
Free Game Two: Tetris.
Apart from the gameplay, these two games had no background introduction and were completely free—available for anyone to download and play.
As soon as the five games were released, players who had been waiting by their consoles immediately became excited.
"Holy cow, am I seeing this right? One, two, three, four, five—FIVE games?"
"Illusionist is awesome."
"The setting for The Punisher is our Shadow Reach Empire! Haha, our Shadow Reach Empire finally makes an appearance!"
"Is the protagonist of Knight of Light that golden-haired girl? She's so beautiful. I love her."
"That guy upstairs named White Dragon Knight, you're from Soaring Dragon, aren't you? Listen up—this girl is from our Lion Kingdom."
"You idiot Gorilla upstairs, the background clearly states it's the Sacred Lion Empire."
"Our Lion Kingdom is the successor of the Sacred Lion Empire."
"Then that girl is from nearly a hundred thousand years ago. She must be long dead."
"Even if she's dead, she's still a girl from our Lion Kingdom. And naturally, men from our Lion Kingdom will protect her."
"Has everyone noticed? Games based on the Six Great Empires are all out now."
"Really?"
"Yes! Moonwatch has Elemental Contra, Soaring Dragon has Red Fortress and Dragonspire New Century, Lion has Knight of Light, Shadow Reach has The Punisher, Frostpeak Empire has Snow Bros, Fire Phoenix Empire has Phoenix Dance in the Nine Heavens..."
"Then next should be our Stickfall Kingdom, right? Illusionist, you better give us a good showing."
"Upstairs, are you still drunk from last night? Why are you talking nonsense? What is your Stickfall Kingdom? Do you have the right to compare yourselves to the Six Great Empires?"
"Our Stickfall Kingdom is a country blessed by the God of Light, with five Archangels stationed on our land. Besides the Lion Kingdom, who else can stand shoulder to shoulder with us?"
"A garbage country that picked up dog poop."
"Who are you? Which country are you from? Come out and fight one-on-one."
"..."
"..."
Caelan merely glanced at the Forum to see everyone's reactions, smiling slightly.
Prioritizing the Six Great Empires for game settings was a business decision. People from those six countries had the strongest spending power and the largest populations. Why not do something that could easily increase their participation?
As for Stickfall... well, they could wait.
Closing his mind palace, he left his room to help his father trim the lawn downstairs.
Caelan now lived in the newly built house.
He had to admit—Hadrian's skills were excellent. Both the interior and exterior walls and floors were incredibly smooth and even. The walls were as smooth as mirrors. The floors were flat but not slippery.
Caelan's room was gray-toned, clean and modern.
His parents' room, at Matthias's strong insistence, was decorated in his favorite rustic dark red. From Caelan's aesthetic perspective, this color was quite ugly. But since his father liked it, he let it be.
His mother had no opinion on the matter.
Downstairs, Mira sat in a comfortable armchair, quietly watching her husband work in the courtyard. A servant gently massaged her shoulders. Her spine was fully healed now—Father Jasper's treatments had worked perfectly—but she still enjoyed being pampered.
In the courtyard, Matthias held a large pair of shears, trimming leaves with practiced precision. A male servant stood awkwardly nearby with water and a towel, clearly unsure what to do.
"I've done this kind of work before," Matthias had insisted when Caelan suggested hiring a gardener. "Let me do it myself."
Caelan didn't argue. More exercise was beneficial for health. And his father's skill was genuinely good—the trees were trimmed neatly and beautifully.
For the new house, Caelan had purchased five servants to do chores: two male, three female.
Unlike other countries, when the Holy Emperor founded Moonwatch, he had abolished all remaining slavery. He'd also planned to abolish the servant system entirely, but that was met with nationwide opposition—even from the servants themselves, who feared losing their livelihoods. So in the end, a compromise was reached.
Moonwatch law stipulated that one could only purchase another person's service for a maximum of ten years. After that, servants had the right to leave.
Caelan had bought out their service for the full ten years.
Although it was called "ten years," without unexpected circumstances, this essentially amounted to a lifetime arrangement. The five servants came from different surrounding countries. For them, living in the Moonwatch Empire was a dream come true—steady work, fair treatment, and the protection of Holy Emperor's laws.
After a few days of observation, aided by his mind palace's ability to read emotional states, Caelan felt confident their loyalty wasn't an issue.
He sat leisurely beside his mother, watching his father work, when a female servant entered from outside.
"Young master, someone is looking for you at the door."
Caelan wasn't surprised. He told his mother and got up to leave.
"General Azuregaze, long time no see."
The woman at the door was none other than Seraphina Azuregaze—a subordinate of Earl Cedric of House Moonwind, and Vice Commander of the Imperial Legion. She had told him yesterday in their communication that she would visit today, so Caelan was mentally prepared.
Seraphina smiled slightly. "Actually, it hasn't been that long."
"Come in and sit," Caelan invited.
She waved her hand. "No need. I just stopped by to inform you of two things."
"What two things?"
"First," Seraphina said, "the portable instant communication device you made earlier has been highly praised by our military and reported to His Majesty. It shouldn't be long before you receive a reward from the throne."
"Oh?" Caelan raised an eyebrow. "What reward?"
"At least a title of Baron is guaranteed."
"Oh."
So he would become a member of the nobility. Caelan didn't feel much about this personally. It was well-known that nobles in the Moonwatch Empire weren't as valuable as nobles in other countries—no fiefs, no special powers, purely an honorary title.
But having it was better than not.
At least his parents would be very happy to know.
"And the second thing?"
"After mediating the disputes in the Land of Chaos," Seraphina said, "Earl Moonwind will make another trip to the Forest of Elves to visit several Elf nations. She wants to bring some special gifts."
"So?..." Caelan paused. "Oh, oh, I mean—so what does that have to do with me?"
"The military believes your consoles would be very suitable as diplomatic gifts. We plan to order a batch from you."
"You can just buy them directly from my shop. There are still over ten thousand in stock."
"The quantity isn't enough." Seraphina's expression didn't change. "We need at least one hundred thousand units. And it's quite clear that our military expects a discount."
Caelan stared at her.
Seraphina stared back, perfectly calm.
Caelan was the first to give in. "Um, Sister Seraphina, you know my consoles have never been discounted."
"Isn't that why I came to ask you to make an exception?"
"I don't think this exception is necessary."
"We're on the same side, aren't we?" Her tone was pleasant but firm. "Can't you contribute a little to the country?"
"Ugh... fine." Caelan made a pained expression. "Then a five percent discount. 9.5 gold coins each."
Seraphina said nothing.
She silently took out a small stool from her Storage Ring, placed it on the ground, and sat down at Caelan's doorstep.
Then she just... looked at him.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Clearly prepared to be stubborn.
Caelan: "..."
Caelan ultimately wasn't good at bargaining.
Fortunately, Seraphina didn't push too hard. In the end, after a not-so-intense debate, Caelan agreed to sell them to the military for five gold coins per unit—half price.
But on one condition: the military would provide all labor and materials. The runestone cutting. The coloring. Even the meteorite powder.
This request was reasonable. Since the material cost per unit was only about one gold coin anyway, Seraphina readily agreed.
A deal was struck.