Cos the day of the duel.
It has been a blur ever since Mrs. Greene's visit, her ssage echoed in repeat in Rex's mind.
He knew that it shouldn't be real, his mother was already dead but he couldn't help but think of it as so kind of a warning, and he also wanted to believe, that his mother was watching him from above.
"A mortal and a deity..." Rex whispered silently in contemplation.
No matter how much he thought about those words, he couldn't decipher what they ant.
A calamity is certainly coming—even other people, such as Garret and Madam Qonvale, so it would be wise for him to prepare for the calamity. But as of this mont, he could only point at the Fourthborn who would bring forth the calamity.
Rex already gained a hint from the System, Chaos would be the harbinger.
Chaos is the specialization of the Executors, naturally, it was very likely to be the Fourthborn.
Of course, Rex couldn't diminish the potential threat from the other Executors.
From the way the Fifthborn was behaving and how he ntioned his brothers—the oldest should be the strongest—while the Fourthborn, is only stronger than the Fifthborn. Taking account of other Executors is a must too.
I needed to know what the calamity was before I could understand what mom ant.
Regardless of how hard he thought about the matter, he couldn't find the answer.
He needs to find out about the calamity first before he can understand.
"I promised to protect those who are dear to , and I intend to fulfill that promise no matter what lies ahead," Rex muttered inwardly—clenching both of his fists, as he sat on his throne. "I need to be more effective, I don't have much ti..."
As soon as he thought of that, his eyes averted to the side, sensing soone approaching.
Rex was expecting to see only Adhara.
It was her entering the throne room in a tight black and red combat suit—but Rex frowned at the sight of Evelyn following right behind her. Both of their gazes t for a brief second, and the sight of her with Adhara made Rex tense a little, the muscles in his jaw tightened.
Straightening his back, he observed the two ascending the staircase, approaching him.
"Adhara, I only asked for you," Rex said, opening the conversation.
As opposed to her answering, Evelyn stepped forward, "I heard there will be a negotiation,"
Upon hearing this, Rex shifted his eyes toward Evelyn.
"Yes, I need sothing from them but Adhara and I could handle it"
"I beg to differ, Your Majesty. Adhara is not adept in handling matters regarding negotiations"
"Even if she wasn't, I would be there, there's no need for you to be here"
"An all-powerful Emperor doing the negotiation, I don't think that would be good. Considering Your Majesty's reputation, it wouldn't end up as a negotiation but an extortnt instead. I am quite sure they would be pressured to give what you want if you're the one negotiating"
Listening to this, Rex clenched his jaw harder as Evelyn didn't want to back down.
Because of what Madam Qonvale said, she has been sticking to him closely.
She doesn't want Rex to be reckless, thus she stays by his side.
It was so bad that even when he was on the bed with Calidora, Evelyn was also there.
Evelyn has been sticking to him like a moth to a light.
"Nevertheless, I say no," Rex replied firmly, shaking his head—his decision was final.
Despite his resolute tone that didn't want to be refuted—Evelyn squinted her eyes and didn't intend to stop there, "Do not be like that, Your Majesty, you can trust to handle this. After all—I heard there were Shamans there that could bolster our force too. I am sure Adhara and also the others wouldn't want their souls turning cold toward our empire, it would be calamity if that happened"
Upon hearing this, Rex's expression darkens.
He couldn't believe Evelyn would resort to threatening him to get what she wanted.
Out of the entire Silverstar Pack—the only ones who knew about what Madam Qonvale said were Evelyn and him. Nobody else knew, Rex specifically told her that the others should not know about the words of a re Shaman who could be wrong.
Doing so would only create chaos, sothing that he doesn't need right now.
If Adhara, Kyran, Flunra, and Gistella knew he was nearing his death, it would be problematic.
Now, Evelyn was using that as leverage against him right now.
"Eh...? How do you know the Water Elentals have Shamans, Evelyn?" Adhara asked.
Oblivious to what was happening, Adhara turned and asked.
She didn't know Evelyn was knowledgeable about the Water Elentals that they were going to et. Adhara thought she was the only one, who had t with an Elental race, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Giving her a subtle smile, Evelyn replied, "I only assud, they should be strong, right?"
"The Fire Elental King was strong, the Water Elental should be the sa" She replied.
Eventually, Rex stood up and went to the other room, "Fine, co along, I don't care"
Minutes later, Rex entered a room followed by the two girls.
Calidora had surprisingly fulfilled her role last night, bringing back a mutated snake, at the peak of the ninth-rank realm, without even stepping a foot out of the castle. She used her Eyes of Terror power to hypnotize other mutated animals, and deployed the to defeat and capture the mutated snake.
Initially, Rex was only half-expecting her to be successful in this.
At the very least—she should be able to locate the suitable mutated snake, that has a strong enough venom to break Caraptaros' defense so that he could capture it himself but that was not the case.
Her attempt was a success, once again helping Rex in getting what he wanted.
Regardless of her position in this castle, he couldn't deny her usefulness in many things.
Now, with the first requirent to weaken Caraptaros in his possession, he could move on to the second, an item called the Conduit of Aquaheart that could only be found within the very heart of the Water Elentals' domain.
Recalling Adhara's connection with the Fire Elentals, he asked if she could help.
Surprisingly, Flamy, Adhara's pet could contact the Fire Elentals.
Using Flamy to communicate, they found the Fire Elentals could tell the Water Elentals about Rex's desire, and arrange a eting. Thus, a eting was set, though not in person. It was the solarium room that Rex entered.
It was a beautifully airy and decorated room with a mixture of white and pale blue colors.
One of the rooms that has never been used before.
A room adorned with mutated decorative plants and a small fountain creature a superficial river, a perfect place for the Water Elentals to project themselves, as they need a water source to do that.
Standing beside the river, Rex glanced at Adhara and nodded.
He gave her the signal to call out the Water Elentals.
Adhara brought out Flamy and inford it that they were ready and as she did this, Rex who was standing beside the river walked to the side, and took a seat on a small garden chair, as opposed to readying himself to be presentable.
Seeing this, Evelyn couldn't help but frown, "What are you doing? Co stand with "
"Since you volunteered, go deal with it," He replied, crossing his arms. "I want the Conduit of Aquaheart right now, but I am willing to wait before the others depart for the duel. If you can not do that for then it seems you overestimate yourself,"
Evelyn raised her chin slightly and squinted her eyes, she was not expecting this.
She was not expecting Rex to be as hostile as this.
'I threatened him so he would listen and be careful with his life, why is he being like this?'
Naturally, Evelyn has no bad intentions for the threat she made earlier.
Knowing how stubborn Rex could be and how he always acted on his own, she needed to be the one to refute him so that he would listen, but he beca hostile instead, 'Can he not see that I'm looking out for him? I knew a calamity was coming, and we needed to prepare, but is it so hard to be careful?'
Gritting her teeth, Evelyn nodded and averted her gaze away.
Soon, a human-size column of water began to climb from the superficial river.
Evelyn watched as the water soon morphed into a Water Elental, a being of pure essence of water. Responding to the appearance of this being—the water, began coursing towards it instead of following the superficial river's current.
Unlike what Adhara expected, the Water Elentals were different than the Fire Elentals.
Strong Fire Elentals would take the form of an animal.
But the Water Elentals took the form of a humanoid torso with a fish' lower body, similar to that of rmaids—and its eyes glowed sapphire blue, like the valuable gems of the ocean. At the sight of Evelyn standing before it, the Water Elental nodded, "Greetings..."
Evelyn steadied herself and cleared her throat, "Welco, and thank you for coming,"
Just like that, Evelyn started the eting to have the Conduit of Aquaheart.
Monts later, the Water Elental crumbled into the water, splashing against the river.
It disappeared from the place after the eting was finished.
Upon the disappearance of the Water Elental, Adhara glanced at Evelyn, and saw that she was shaken. Despite her best efforts—Evelyn had not been able to secure the Conduit of the Aquaheart from the Water Elental.
She was confident before, but she wasn't able to deliver.
From their conversation, the Conduit of Aquaheart was not so powerful treasure.
It was only a unique decoration for the Water Elentals.
It required no sacrifice but there were only two in their possession.
But the problem was the fact that both Conduit of Aquahearts were beloved by so Elders, holding a sentintal value, that couldn't be traded for anything. It was a craft made by their late Elders, thus, it was unique and important.
Although it had no practical impact aside from decoration, the items couldn't be given away.
Even if the one asking was the Silverstar Pack, they couldn't comply.
No matter the trade Evelyn suggested, including promising to help the Water Elenta race find anything they desired to further their race—the Water Elental could not accept all of her offers.
If they wanted to the Conduit of the Aquaheart, they would need to take it themselves.
Rex, Adhara, or Evelyn would need to speak directly with the associated Elders and convince them to part with it—which seed extrely unlikely. Due to that, Evelyn wasn't able to get the item, ending in an ultimate failure.
"She was good but getting it was simply impossible," Adhara said, defending Evelyn.
As soon as she said that, however, the door to the room was opened.
Gistella's head peeked inside from the door, "Adhara, it's ti for you to get ready. It will take so ti so you need to start preparing right now. , Flunra—and Kyran were already set, it's only you now"
Upon hearing this, Adhara hesitated and didn't want to leave yet.
However, she could only sigh as preparing takes priority over helping Evelyn.
"I'll be going, don't be too hard on her, Rex," Adhara said, heading to the door.
Just like that, the room returned to its silence again, Rex and Evelyn were the only ones left.
Rex looked at her back for a mont, as she was still facing away—but then Evelyn opened her mouth first, "You knew that thing was very important, for them—you knew about it from the very start so why didn't you tell ?"
Pausing for a second, Rex stood up from his seat with a light sigh.
"Go and help Adhara prepare. Don't refute this ti," Rex commanded.
He decided not to answer the question, there was no need for him to do that.
Pivoting around, she revealed her tight expression as she looked at Rex briefly in the eyes.
She nodded without saying anything and went to leave the room.
Imdiately after Evelyn left the room, Rex sighed and went near the edge of the superficial river and knelt beside it. He brushed his moonlight energy over the edge—before sothing glowed on the ground.
Upon seeing this, Rex nodded as his expression turned resolute.
"I know the negotiation will fail, but I can't settle for failure. I'll get it no matter what..."
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