Chapter 35 Meeting
Chapter 35 Meeting
Meeting
Another week went by
Within the Imperial Palace, besides the portions where the three main families were, there was also the section that belonged to the royal family. And it was within this portion that the Throne room was located.
And it was a place befitting such a status.
The huge room contained all sorts of luxurious decoration, and at the very end of the room was a raised platform. An exquisite red rug led from the entrance to its base and went up the steps until it stopped at the foot of the throne.
There were five thrones. The biggest belonged to the Emperor, and the second biggest belonged to his wife. Slightly behind the throne were the remaining three thrones which were smaller than the first two but not losing out in their luxurious appearance.
At the top of the room were several golden chandeliers that seemed to be made of a glowing golden crystal which illuminated the room. And then at the base of the throne, on both sides starting from the entrance of the place to well, the base of the throne, there were even more seats which housed those important figures of the Empire. So nobles and the like.
And the seats closest to the throne were the ones belonging to the three Family heads. The Darius Family, the Silvera Family, and the Firmum Family.
Currently, the throne room was semi-full as not every noble was able to come by, but it was enough.
On the thrones, the figures of the royal family could be seen. The Emperor and his wife along with his three Children.
The Emperor, despite his reputation, didn't look a day over thirty. He had a handsome chiseled face with a light beard, shaggy white hair along with piercing blue eyes that seemed capable of staring into one's soul.
His gave off a very oppressive Aura that made it difficult to breathe if one wasn't strong enough to withstand it.
Next to him, his wife seemed to have the opposite appearance as him. Her hair was black and long with menacing red eyes. Her skin was tanned slightly and she had an impassive expression, though, there was a touch of playfulness in her gaze.
And positioned a bit behind them were their children, two boys and a girl.
One of the boys was the Prince that Christopher had encountered previously, and he held the same white hair and blue eyes as his father. And next to him was his brother.
He inherited his mother's features and carried the same black hair and red eyes, and naturally was also exceedingly handsome with a robust physique, though it wasn't overly so.
And in the middle was their sister and the Princess of the empire, and unlike her brothers, she seemed to inherit the features of both parents. She had the same long black hair as her mother but inherited the piercing blue eyes of her father.
Unlike the rest of her family, she had a very innocent expression on her face and seemed endlessly curious, constantly looking around. However, her attention, much like everyone else in the room, was focused mainly on the three beings kneeling in front of the throne, and it was the three Family heads.
Their faces were expressionless as they waited to give their report.
"..." The Emperor stared at them for a while before finally speaking.
"Paul, Sylvia, Franklin, you three were the ones in the case of the massive magical attack, and you brought to my attention that the being responsible can be as much of an asset as a threat. Hence I called this meeting to hear your opinions." When he finished,the first person to speak was Paul.
"Thank you for taking the time to hear us Emperor. I will now begin my report." He said respectfully before giving a brief account of what had happened. And when he finished, there was some murmurs of surprise among the nobles, though the Emperor was still passive.
"So from what I'm getting, this being who referred to himself as the Dreamer, unleashed an attack with enough potency to potentially wipe this continent off the map, because he was irritated?" He asked and Paul nodded.
Then the silver haired woman, Sylvia, spoke.
"That wasn't all Emperor, in the midst of the attack… the Elven Queen appeared." Hearing this, there was a commotion and within the room and the Emperor raised a brow while his wife looked slightly irritated.
"Go on." He instructed and Sylvia nodded.
"She seemed to need him for something. Though she didn't reveal what, and the Dreamer seemed just as confused as we were when she appeared." She explained.
"Interesting. And what happened after?" The Emperor now seemed slightly interested and the big man, Franklin spoke.
"We moved to stop him but he temporarily managed to trap all of us within cages that seemed to be a mix of Gravity and Space. We… couldn't break out of them immediately." Now there were a series of gasps and the Emperor narrowed his eyes.
"... An adventurer none of us have ever seen or heard of before single handedly managed to restrain three of some of the most powerful people in the Empire, by himself?" He asked and the family heads nodded, a bit shameful.
The Emperor sighed and gestured for them to continue.
"... After that, he seemed satisfied and made sure his attack didn't hurt a soul outside his targets. Then he used magic to restore the destroyed forest and unrestrained us… Then he compensated us for the trouble he caused." Paul explained.
"Compensated?" The Emperor repeated and the three Family heads looked at each other before nodding.
Then, each of them brought out the three branches that Christopher had given them and there was a wave of exclamations as the dense life force from the three items filled the room.
The nobles were shocked as those who found themselves growing old, shockingly felt their dwindling life force beginning to rise rapidly.
This time, genuine interest flickered in the eyes of the Emperor as he leaned forward.
"Those branches…" He spoke.
"He said they were from a tree called a Vita Tree and apologised after giving them to us. To which we decided to leave him to the Elven Queen since the three of us would only be able to match her at best if we fought together." Paul finisher and the Emperor nodded.
"Very interesting. Are you aware of his whereabouts now?" He asked and Franklin answered.
"Our people said he enters the Adventurer's Guild every so often and has been clearing red ranked missions left and right. However they have been so far unable to discover where he goes whenever he finishes a mission as he appears to teleport, but leaves no spatial signatures whenever he does so." When he finished, the Emperor leaned back on his throne.
"Interesting." He mumbled. Then, Sylvia hesitated slightly before speaking.
"There is one more thing of note." Her words caught everyone's attention and the other two had an idea on what she was going to say.
"Go on." He instructed.
"Well, we've noticed that, whenever he completes a mission, the place where the missions were carried out… vanish." Her tone was hesitant.
"Vanish? As in get destroyed?" The Emperor ventured but she shook her head.
"No, there are no Mana traces or any residual signs of destruction like shockwaves or craters of anything like that. It's as if those places were, almost taken somewhere. It's too clean to simply be destruction." When she finished,the Emperor had a thoughtful look on his face.
"So you lot reckon he is taking these places away instead of destroying them? But in that case, where would he be taking them? He certainly can't carry around a mountain wherever he goes." He said and the faces of the Family heads were hesitant.
Indeed, there was no reasonable explanation for him taking away entire structures and landscapes.
"Simply treat it as him using a specialised attack, such things are rare but not uncommon." The Emperor decided to wave it off and the Family heads nodded with some reluctance.
"Instead, did any of you attempt to get into contact with him? And possibly recruit him?" He asked and they all nodded.
"Yes, we each sent someone To try and pull him over. However…" Paul sighed.
"He refused all of us without hesitation." Hearing this, everyone was surprised. The three main families had influence second to the royal family itself. Whether it be resources, knowledge, or history, they were almost unparalleled. And yet all three of them got rejected?
"Hard to believe, but you lot have no reason to lie I guess." The Emperor sighed.
"However, Your Majesty, I did try something that seemed to get his attention." Franklin suddenly spoke and everyone looked at him curiously.
"The Sinestra Auction is coming up, so I had someone give him an invite. Since all the important figures from the different races and kingdoms will be attending, yourself included, I thought it would be a good chance to try and recruit him." At this, the Emperor along with his wife and kids, and everyone else in the hall was surprised.
"That's not a bad idea." He nodded in approval.