The tension in the atmosphere instantly faded away like a flattened, punctured balloon.
The Dark Dragon Ion scoffed at Nalea’s words. On the other hand, Rhode shrugged as though nothing happened while Lilian stared at Ion in resentment, but eventually calmed herself down after looking at Rhode. No matter what the exact reasons were, at least they had eliminated their battle intentions for now, so Siena heaved a sigh of relief. She had to admit that even though her elder sister seemed unreliable, there were often times when her unreliable behaviors resolved difficult problems.
Siena took in a deep breath, cleared her mind, and took a step forward.
“Your Majesty Lilian, Your Majesty Rhode, and Your Majesty Ion, please follow us to the ceremony room. As for the rest of you, please wait here, and if it is possible, I hope you can maintain control…” Siena gazed at Lilian and Ion and after ensuring that there were no objections, she made an inviting gesture to Rhode.
“Alright, Your Majesty Rhode, please come with me.”
“Okay.”
Rhode nodded without hesitation. He turned around, patted Mini Bubble Gum’s head, and exchanged meaningful glances with Canary and Marlene. Then, he turned around and followed Siena into the dark passage that led into the deep palace. Lilian scuttled toward Rhode and walked beside him closely. On the other hand, Ion gazed at them coldly, scoffed, and strode into the dark passage.
“Hmph. Pretentious *sshole.”
Mini Bubble Gum gazed at Ion and curled her lips. Then, she turned to Canary curiously.
“By the way, Big Sister, do you know where Leader is heading to? Don’t tell me he’s going for some bullsh*t religious ritual and baptism. We didn’t come here for some monkey play! Of course, it will be another discussion if we can choose who to fight.”
Mini Bubble Gum looked at the four legendary generals excitedly with undisguised battle intention glinting in her eyes. But this time, the four legendary generals didn’t respond to her brazen taunting—not even Ashvril, who was the most provocative.
Even though the three camps minded their own businesses, this didn’t mean that they had no interaction at all.
“Hmm… What a surprise. I didn’t expect his subjects to be so powerful.”
Erin leaned on the wall and squinted at Marlene’s group, curiously swirling the wine glass.
“Only fertile soil nurtures beautiful gardens because roots can support the growth of towering trees. I’m not too surprised by that, Erin.”
Lydia stood leisurely by the stone column beside Erin, gazing interestingly at Canary and the others.
“Frankly speaking, I also feel slightly envious. If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have agreed to his request. But it seems like… my choice was right.”
Lydia revealed a proud smile, while Erin let out a long sigh.
“Yeah, I’m jealous of you. You’re still the first ever in history to have a Creator Dragon Soul as your guardian knight. But it’s a pity that he wasn’t born in the Country of Darkness. If not, I would have liked him to become my personal knight. It is rare to find someone who is worthy of appreciation in the Country of Darkness. But… It is not like I don’t have a chance at all.”
“What do you mean?”
Lydia twitched her brow curiously. Erin chuckled and placed a finger on her lips.
“It’s simple. Why do you think I’m here for this ceremony?”
“Indeed. If I recall correctly, your family doesn’t like you to interfere in internal affairs, right?”
Lydia puckered her brows. She had this doubt in the past and as the ruler of the Munn Kingdom, she knew quite a lot about the Country of Darkness. In fact, even though Erin was a princess of the royal family, she was forbidden by the Dark Dragon from intervening with military affairs. Normally, she wouldn’t be allowed to attend such a diplomatic occasion. But now, she came to the Country of Law with the four legendary generals, which was indeed strange. After hearing Erin’s answer, Lydia seemed to realize something.
“Could it be that…”
“That’s right, it’s just as you thought. I’m just Big Brother’s bargaining chip. Perhaps I’ll be marrying off to the Void Territory in the near future. Huhuhu. How is it? Are you feeling anxious already?”
Erin chuckled playfully and didn’t seem like she was unwilling to. On the contrary, she seemed like a rich young lady who was about to go sightseeing. Lydia pouted and shrugged helplessly.
“I certainly didn’t expect this… It seems like I’ve miscalculated. It’s a pity because if I knew this would happen, I would have taken action earlier. But… Even though wild flowers can’t be compared to precious flowers nurtured in greenhouses, they still have a special and distinctive scent, don’t they? Perhaps I should say that tenacious vitality and determination are the most wonderful values in this world.”
Lydia closed her eyes.
“If that day were to come, I will give you my blessings, Erin. Hmm… But I don’t think you will receive his recognition so easily. After all, you’re aware that you have a lot of competition, right?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
Erin nodded slightly. She focused her gaze on Marlene, Canary, and the others with puckered brows.
“I do have a lot of competition. Besides… Aren’t you one of them?”
“Oh? Why do you say so?” Lydia said.
“It’s simple. If I were to marry into the Void Territory, don’t you think that the Light Dragon will choose you as a bargaining chip for the other side of the scale in order to maintain balance?” Erin turned around with a smile and gazed at Lydia. “Besides, don’t you have any interest in him at all?”
“…”
This time Lydia didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she lifted her head and gazed at the burning candlelight at the end of the deep, dark passage. She narrowed her eyes and the corners of her mouth lifted wittily.
“Who knows?”
***
The dark passage was oddly silent. Rhode pondered over the ceremony that was about to take place. Judging from the current situation and their reactions from before, this upcoming ceremony should be a completely internal one. Of course, he didn’t think that it would be a baptism ceremony like Mini Bubble Gum because Siena and Nalea were only dragon soul heirs. Moreover, the other four dragon soul heirs were on the same level as him, so they didn’t have the rights to administer baptism to him.
The fact that this ceremony existed up until now and was even recognized by the Dark Dragon proved that it might relate to some secrets which players weren’t aware of. This was because despite players being able to kill the dragon soul heirs and open up territories, it was impossible for them to become a dragon soul heir. Therefore, players naturally couldn’t get involved with the storyline or missions related to dragon soul heirs. Moreover, for a ceremony that only dragon soul heirs and their direct subjects could participate in, players had no place there, even if their reputation was at the highest level. Therefore, even if there were such a ceremony in the game, players wouldn’t possibly know. Besides, judging from this, the ceremony would only be triggered when a dragon soul heir inherited the dragon soul powers, which meant that players basically couldn’t be involved.
And now, Rhode actually ‘activated’ this storyline and this ceremony might possibly contain some secrets of the Dragon Soul Continent. If not, it wouldn’t require Siena and Nalea to be responsible for it.
Rhode lifted his head at this thought and gazed at the young lady and the longsword slung behind her.
He was very familiar with this back view. This was not the first time that he followed the twin dragons and eliminated Chaos for the sake of restoring Order.
And now, he finally showed up before them once again.
