A Demon's Journey

Chapter 45 - Joining Family Meeting

For a few seconds, there was a strange yet suffocating silence around the Jonas and Azaroth as they continued to fly towards the Rhodes Estate.

Jonas was utterly shocked that he had actually failed to sense the fluctuations of Ardor from Azaroth earlier. He had only found out about Azaroth's true strength when he had used his energy and fly together with him.

Just a month or so ago, he had personally checked Edwin's energy and was sure that Edwin was just a 2 Star Warrior. Just how could two great breakthroughs occur in a month?!

"Speak?! Was it during the time you went out hunting and your servants lost their lives? Did you encounter something heavenly there?!" The man frantically asked Azaroth.

Azaroth understood that Jonas was more curious about the breakthrough than his true identity.

'Damn. That gave me a scare.'

As for Jonas's questions, Azaroth already had an answer prepared beforehand.

"No father, it's just that blinding light was released from my body that killed a few beasts in the area before I collapsed out of exhaustion. After I woke up, I was really dirty and then took a bath in the nearby lake. When I used my Ardor, I felt as if it was much greater than before and also much stronger. When I returned to the mansion, I read a couple of books and understood that it was Celestial Ardor." As if to give proof, Azaroth raised his right hand and golden energy enveloped his entire hand.

"I began to look for ways to train it and slowly get more proficient in it." Azaroth slowly lowered his hand and the golden light dimmed as well.

"You possess the Celestial Bloodline and awakened it?!" Jonas looked astonished as he came to know of this fact. He was more or less sure that this Celestial Bloodline couldn't have come from his lineage. This meant it was from his concubine who was dead now.

"Make sure to keep this Celestial Bloodline a secret. You should be well aware of how the hybrids are treated in this kingdom, right?" Jonas looked at Azaroth with a serious gaze.

"Yes. I haven't told this secret to anyone else but you, father." Azaroth spoke with a convincing tone.

Jonas slowly nodded his head as he seemed satisfied with Azaroth's answer.

"Good. Now, let's return."

The two picked up speed as they flew towards the Rhodes Estate.

Azaroth felt it rather refreshing to fly at such speed. Currently, he could only fly by controlling the Wind Element but even then, his flying speed was far slower than Jonas's flying speed.

On the horse, it would have still taken Azaroth another 3 days to return home. But flying with Jonas, it only took him half a day to return back to the mansion.

The two had landed on the balcony that was next to the great hall of the Rhodes Estate.

As the two stepped within the great hall, many servants saw how Azaroth and Jonas had entered the great hall from the balcony.

One of the servants silently left the great hall to inform this information to his master.

Although all the servants in the Rhodes Estate were working for Jonas Rhodes, most of them were assigned to different members of the Rhodes Family and were naturally more devoted to them.

Edwin also had his own faithful bunch of servants who were now dead.

Zachariah Rhodes, one of Edwin's uncles, was the first one to arrive in the great hall. He was the little brother of Jonas Rhodes and was a 5 Star Warrior in the family…

His authority in the family was only below that of Jonas Rhodes and on more than one occasion, he had tried to belittle Jonas and take control of his political authority.

Naturally, his efforts had been in vain as Jonas's authority in the family was still unshakable. The most important reason was his talent and power. Moreover, his bold personality would prevent anyone from taking things too far against him.

Zachariah seemed to be surprised to see Jonas and Azaroth standing so close to each other.

However, the man remained quiet as he waited for the other members of the family to arrive.

Jonas seemed to have expected this as he went over to a nearby chair and sat on it, placing one of his feet on top of his other leg.

Azaroth looked at Jonas and noticed that he was hinting at something. Azaroth also took a seat on a seat next to Jonas.

It was considered quite impolite in the Noble Family to sit while someone senior to you was still standing.

However, it was something that Jonas had asked Azaroth to do. Clearly, this indicated that he was dead set on humiliating Zachariah.

Zachariah knew what his brother was attempting but all he could do was keep his mouth shut at this moment.

Soon, the other members of the family gathered at that place.

They included the other uncles of Edwin, Laurance, and the other older children of his uncles.

It was at this moment that Zachariah finally asked Jonas with an ugly scowl, "Why did you return so soon, Jonas?! Were you not going to investigate Kloras Town because of the reports of the beast raid? Moreover, what is he doing here?" The man ended his series of questions while pointing at Azaroth.

Edwin Rhodes was considered quite a trash in the family. It was well known that any important or crucial information regarding the Rhodes Family wouldn't be passed onto him.

"He went to the Kloras Town and aided them in their beast raid and has even survived it. I encountered him while he was returning home and heard about the result of the beast raid from him." Jonas Rhodes gave a brief answer to Zachariah's questions.

As the other members of the Rhodes Family including Zachariah heard Jonas's answer, they turned their heads in Azaroth's direction.

Many of them began whispering among themselves. Their talks mainly exhibited their ridicule towards Azaroth.

"He provided aid to the Beast Raid? I hope this guy didn't pull them down by too much."

"Yeah. A mere 2 Star Warrior also thinks he can make a difference by going alone. How naïve… It seems that the death of his servants has just traumatized him."

"It is surprising though that the family head returned along with Edwin. According to my estimation of Family Head's character, he should have ordered Edwin to return before going over to investigate the scene personally."

Azaroth had no choice but to remain absolutely silent as the individuals ahead of him kept judging him.

Laurance also held his doubts over why his father had allowed Edwin to remain at this scene.

Normally, his father would have made sure to dismiss Edwin first before continuing with the family meeting.

This was also a sign that Edwin couldn't threaten his position in family politics and had always relieved him. But today, a faint sense of fear appeared in his heart.

However, he quickly calmed himself by thinking 'Hah. How can this trash take over my position as the next head of the family?! I am thinking too much into this.'

It was Zachariah who asked the crucial question though, "And what is the result of the Beast Raid in Kloras Town."

Jonas appeared quite relaxed as he replied back, "All the warriors who turned up to fight against the Beast Raid died except for Sophie Russel and Edwin."

All the family members of the Rhodes Noble Family were shocked to hear that statement. Azaroth or more precisely speaking, Edwin was merely trash for them. Just how could he survive the beast raid when many other stronger warriors than him had perished.

"You mean all the other noble family descendants also died?!" Even Zachariah found it far too inconceivable.

He knew that a beast raid was incredibly dangerous but the noble family heirs had many things to protect their lives.

Their status was so distinguished that they could treat a beast raid as a mere trial. How could so many heirs of the noble families die so easily?!

Moreover, not just that, but combining it with the fact that Azaroth had actually survived when the others hadn't was even more unbelievable.

"Do I need to lie to you?" Jonas spoke with a haughty tone.

The Rhodes Family members were incredibly familiar with this tone from Jonas. They knew that he was absolutely sure of this outcome…

As Azaroth observed their reactions with his Mystic Eyes of Perception, he understood that their shock was genuine. It clearly indicated that they were unaware of the plan put into motion by Jonas.

This alone signified that Jonas didn't just rely on the network of Rhodes Family but his own personal network.

The first one to break out of his trance was Zachariah. The man asked with a sharp tone, "Are you not going to clean up those beasts then?"

"Why should I?" Jonas coldly asked Zachariah.

The two began to glare at each other intensely.

At this moment, a middle-aged man, who was, in reality, an elder of the family spoke with a warm tone, "You don't need to flare up so much Jonas. Zachariah is merely curious about why you won't kill those beasts and extract their cores for the Family. The King might also reward our Noble Family for dealing with a beast raid."

Azaroth analyzed this man deeply as well. On the surface, this man seemed to be stepping up for Zachariah, but he was also condemning Jonas for not killing those beasts.

As the other members of the family heard those words, they also felt that their Family Head took the wrong decision to return with Azaroth.

However, even this question didn't faze Jonas, "I have my own reasons for this. For now, it's better to not deal with the beast raid of Kloras Town. It is related to something rather troublesome that even the Rhodes Family can't deal with."

Such words from Jonas were rather rare. Nearly all the members who had appeared for this meeting were convinced. Zachariah though was more and more curious about this Beast Raid. Just how could it threaten the Rhodes House?

The topic of this Beast Raid was now over so the other members were thinking of returning soon.

Only Jonas and his 4 children, Azaroth, Laurance, Lucas, and Bryon, remained behind.

In reality, Jonas had way more children than these four but only those who attended the meetings similar to the one earlier could possess all the benefits with that identity.

"Give some more information about the House to Edwin. From now on, he will also attend the meetings."

Jonas soon left after leaving that message behind.

Laurance sneered at Azaroth as soon as Jonas had gone out of sight, "And here I thought you wouldn't go any lower. But to beg father just to let you attend the meetings, you are truly disappointing."

Lucas and Bryon both had annoyed looks on their faces as well. They were annoyed because from their perspective Azaroth hadn't done anything to be rewarded so greatly by Jonas.

Now, the monthly allowance of the three would be shared among the four until the next Family Head was announced.

Currently, the one in the lead of the rankings was none other than Laurance.

"Don't get in my way or else, the result won't be pretty," Laurance warned Azaroth before he left the Hall.

Lucas and Bryon stared at each other before nodding. They decided to leave as well.

They didn't want to strengthen their competition by explaining things to Azaroth. They only hoped that he would be forced to drop out soon.

However, none of these three individuals knew that Azaroth possessed the strongest martial strength amongst the four of them.. And that was the very reason why Jonas had allowed Azaroth to join this meeting and throw him in this race for the next Family Head.