Prime Originator

Once the suggestion was raised, all eyes fell on the inner disciple, silently urging him to elaborate.

Not expecting such great attention, the inner disciple scratched his head awkwardly. His suggestion was not anything great, given the options they had. It was not a do or die, but more like a do and die suggestion.

"Ahem, we can secretly contact the prince and lay everything on the table. We are no longer part of the Illusory Butterfly Sect, not to mention we have saved and raised the prince in the past. If he learns everything, I'm sure he will be more understanding and permit us citizenship."

"That is an extremely stupid idea. Don't forget we also selfishly took the prince away from the Queen during his best years of growing up. The prince would spare us, but would the Queen? If we were brave enough help openly back then, perhaps we would not have wasted so many years in hiding."

The suggestion was immediately rejected. They all knew why they didn't. Exposing themselves openly would have subjected them to being hunted furiously by the Illusory Butterfly Sect.

It was easy to dodge a dagger in the open than a dagger in the dark. Likewise, being in the open was disadvantageous compared to being in the dark, especially when their opponent was the Illusory Butterfly Sect which specializes in disguise and covert killing with poison.

Having grown up in such a sect, they might not necessarily die without knowing why but it would be exhausting to be wary every day. Thus, they had chosen what they believed to be a safer choice.

They had the courage to leave the sect, but chickened out in opposing their ways, ultimately landing themselves in their current awkward predicament. 

Fortune favored the bold.

Unfortunately, there was no what if and they could not go back in time to change their choice.

"Then do you have a better suggestion?" The inner disciple argued.

They were at the end of their road. They have nowhere else to hide and run once their hideout was discovered. 

Rather than being misunderstood and waiting for their deaths, wasn't it better to be proactive even if it means handing their life to the other party to decide?

They were not the enemy, but they could be seen as the enemy. In the end, it all comes down to one word, trust.

If their words are trusted, they live. If not, they die. It was as simple as that.

No one had an answer when the question was raised, and silence filled the secret chamber with deep frowns and thoughts.

Helen crouched down to face Mia and smiled. "Mia, do you want to see your big brother Leon again?"

"Yeah!" 

The adorable response made Helen rub her cheeks against the little thing.

…

Royal Palace.

Leon sat cross-legged within his bedroom with his eyes closed. Heavy perspiration could be seen on his face as his brows locked together. 

The process of carving Body Runes into one's own body was never easy and free of pain. 

Ravenous Black laid beside him as his left arm dripped with glowing blood. 

Originally, he thought might be some problems with carving through his skin after it had been tempered by [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], but his skin was still split apart easily like a hot knife through butter.

One could see that the sharpness of Ravenous Black was unparalleled, designed to be able to carve through anything, and also capable of being a great weapon.

He was in the middle of fusing the liquid energy with his blood before forming the Body Rune in his left arm, which demanded great focus and mental energy. It was both exhausting and enduring.

In a way, the process was like alchemy, except the body was his cauldron, and blood was his fire.

By the time, Leon completed the Body Rune, the sun had already risen high in the sky. The process had taken him an entire night.

After getting a maid to prepare the warm water, Leon took a bath and cleaned himself before taking out a bottle of Golden Ointment to rub the medicine on his left arm to close the wound left behind from last night.

Once he was finished, he was dressed in a set of royal attire and headed out to find his father. He rarely wears his royal attire, but today was a formal occasion. 

…

In the king's study, Heinrich was already up early and working through some documents that covered a wide range of subjects and concerns within the kingdom. 

Apart from the few documents in Heinrich's hand, there were two tall stacks of similar documents to the side. 

Just looking at the stack of documents gave the king a headache, but it cannot be helped. If he did not sort them out, who would? 

To ease his workload, he had already begun assigning new ministers and officials to work for him.

At this moment, the maid, Lily walked in with a new stack of paper.

"These were sent over today from the new officials," Lily said.

The new documents contained requests for building permissions of sorts from various nobles and commoners. They were arranged neatly alongside the background details and history of the nobles and commoners making the request. 

The king was only required to read through the document and stamp his approval if no problems were found.

Nevertheless, Heinrich could not help but twitched his mouth when he saw the new stack.

After receiving the king's nod of acknowledgment, Lily placed the stack of requests on the king's desk and stepped to the side quietly to await further orders.

Heinrich finished his new present documents and decided to commence with the new stack of documents. They were considered on the lighter side of work among other things on his desk. He did not want to do heavy and be mentally exhausted first thing in the morning.

Lily prepare the morning tea for the king aptly as Heinrich began reading through the documents.

'A request for a new mode of transport to the underground district directly from the upper district? A long cable lift?' Heinrich read with interest.

The proposal was ultimately capitalized on the possible profits for nobles, but the idea of making the underground easily accessible from the Upper District does have its merits. It was convenient. 

But considering the proximity to the foundation holding the Capital up and preventing it from sinking into the underground, Heinrich felt that the matter had to be tread carefully. A single mistake would damn everyone in the Capital.

Heinrich flipped the page and begun looking at the thesis and design of the cable lift. Everything was well thought out from the beginning to the end. It was detailed and well explained. 

The king smiled wryly when he found out later that it was jointly proposed by Ignis Lancaster and Bromley Cromwell. 

He was assured if it was these two people working together. Flipping back to the first page, he picked up the royal stamp and stamped the document with his approval.

Taking a sip of his Earl Grey tea, the king moved onto the next set of documents. It was a request from the commoners. 

Anything related to commoners was a sensitive topic these days. The King had learned after his long slumber that the commoners suffered the most in the past 17 years due to the unruly noble treatment, discrimination, and exploitation.

'A request for the construction of a church?" Heinrich became serious immediately.

No religion exists within the Crawford Kingdom. Everyone worships the Hero King and that was enough. The kingdom did not need a bunch of worshippers of some unknown god that may or may not exist. It was detrimental to royal authority.

Heinrich wanted to toss the document away and move on, but he still forces himself to finish reading at least. By the time, he reached the end, he was dumbfounded.

The request came from a group of survivors from a human trafficking business. Their story was truly tragic, but in their moment of despair, they were saved by something anyone would find hard to believe.

This was the strangest thing he read all morning. It was not a request to build a church to worship some god but a holy shield. Looking at the picture attached to the document, it looked like a cauldron lid…

Heinrich wore a really peculiar expression while closing the document. He had approved the request with his royal stamp. 

"Your Majesty, the general marquis, Hendrick Graham, and envoys of an Elven Tribe of the Wildlands, Elvengarde has come to seek an audience." A new maid stepped in and reported.

Heinrich stared blankly with doubt. Elves were real? And the general marquis personally escorted them here instead of stopping them at the border? These envoys must be important. 

"Did they state the reason for their visit?"

"The general marquis stated that they have come to discuss an alliance between their tribe and our kingdom."

Heinrich subconsciously glanced in the direction of the World Tree. Did they come for that? Turning to a dark spot in the study room, he asked, "Do we have any news on the big tree in the east yet?" 

"Not yet, Your Majesty. My men are still on their way to find out the reason for its sudden appearance." 

An old voice responded from the dark spot.

Heinrich creased his brows and turned back to the maid. "Where are the elven envoys right now?"

"They are currently waiting in the Great Hall, Your Majesty."

"Very well, let us go meet these elven friends who have come from afar." 

Heinrich nodded and got up. The maids accompanied him on the way and the dark spot flickered ever so slightly before becoming still again.

The study room was silent after everyone left.