CH 47

Legrand : Capital of the ruined Eland Kingdom.

The orange light of the evening sun shone brightly through one of the many colored windows of an old cathedral and illuminated it’s interior, which, in turn, revealed a small group of brown-skinned men kneeling in front of an altar, that was covered by a spirit cloth, located at the far end of the cathedral’s main hall.

After a while, a seemingly old priest stood up and approached the altar, then he carefully removed the spirit cloth that was covering it… however, right after he did that, everyone present in the room let out a surprised gasp at the sight of what lied beneath the cloth.

“No way… so it’s true… . ”

What lied atop the altar was a crystal ball just a bit larger than a baby’s head. That crystal ball was know as the Spirit Pearl , and it was the national treasure of the Eland Kingdom, gifted to them by the Great Spirit of Light itself a long time ago.

But the pearl wasn’t shining as brightly as it used to.

It’s surface was now covered in red spots.

A moment later, a young man wearing a black robe stood up as well, then he walked towards the old priest, and asked–

“–What is the meaning of this, Alihad–?”

The young man had a deep voice, but it lacked any sort of intonation, his eyes were as blue as the sky and, although his face looked fierce, he was as calm as the surface of a still lake. His name was Safita Manasirius al Eland, and as his family name suggested, he was the last descendant of the ruined Elandian royal family.

When the war that plagued his country, seven years ago, finally ended, the proud Eland Kingdom almost disappeared. The majority of their lands became uninhabitable, so they didn’t have a choice but to give up on their status of kingdom and become an autonomous region of the Empire instead, which meant that now, Safita was the last prince of a ruined country.

“–I know that the Spirit Pearl remained unsealed for the past seven years, but why isn’t it shining like it used to…?”

“Safita-sama… . ”

After hearing Safita’s voice, Alihad turned around with a troubled look on his face, then he shook his head to the sides. The old priest had been serving the young prince and the Elandian royal family for a long time now. He was Safita’s caregiver and his adviser, but even he didn’t know why the Spirit Pearl wasn’t shining like it used to.

“I’m sorry, Safita-sama, I don’t know what is happening either. The pearl was already like this when the other priests unsealed it in preparation for the upcoming Contract Festival . Moreover, none of the books that we have in the royal library mentioned something like this. Not even our prayers can eliminate the corruption that’s taking over the pearl, so… we don’t know what to do.”

As soon as Alihad finished reporting the situation to his master, the other priests, who were just a couple of steps behind them, started panicking. Some were lamenting the state of the pearl, while others were praying to the spirits in hopes that they would, somehow, fix the pearl for them. But after Safita glared at them, the room fell silent again.

Seeing that order had returned to the main hall of the cathedral, the young prince then urged Alihad to continue.

“The Spirit Pearl is the treasure of our country, and part of the Great Spirit of Light’s immense power, so the only explanation that I can give you right now, Safita-sama, is that someone, or something, out there, is strong enough to overpower and corrupt our god’s blessing overnight. But no one detected an anomaly of that magnitude anywhere around the continent, which means that–”

“–Which means that the pearl wasn’t corrupted overnight… it took many years for it to become like this, right?”

“It’s exactly as you say, Safita-sama. The pearl is sick… it’s almost like someone poisoned it… . ”

Alihad intended to use the word poison just as a metaphor, but the surrounding priests got restless when they heard that. Even Safita, who rarely showed any emotion on his face, was a bit surprised to hear that.

“By poison , you mean… that poison? The spirit pearl has… magic power poisoning…?”

“…………… . ”

Alihad didn’t answer the young prince’s question right away. He didn’t want to blame someone without any concrete evidence. But since everyone was waiting for an answer, he decided to tell them everything that was on his mind.

“As you all know, magic power comes from the dragon blood of old, and spirit power comes from the spirits themselves. These two powers don’t mingle together, they are opposites… but seven years ago, during the last war, a deadly battle took place in this cathedral. This place was overrun by Imperial soldiers at the time, so… I guess some of their residual magic power was absorbed by the pearl.”

The surrounding priests got even more restless when they heard that. Some of them were even cursing the Empire. However, just like before, they all fell silent after Safita looked at them.

The young prince had an angry look on his face, but they all knew that he wasn’t angry at them.

“If that’s really the case, then the Empire has humiliated us twice now… . ” – Said Safita, in a low, but angry tone, as he gripped his fists in pure rage.

“B-but we don’t have any proof that they’re the ones who corrupted the–”

Alihad tried to calm the young prince before things got out of control, however, before he could finish his sentence, Safita cut him off.

“–I know we don’t have any proof that they’re the ones who corrupted the pearl, Alihad… but there’s no other explanation as to why this happened, right? You’re the one who said that.”

After hearing what his master said, Alihad fell silent. He knew that his theory was probably right, and that trying to fool himself with pretty lies wouldn’t bring them anywhere near the truth, so he opened his mouth to agree with Safita. However, before he could say anything, one of the priests, a young man who chose to remain silent so far, took a step forward, and yelled–

“–Are you two serious right now!? You two are trying to find the culprit behind this, instead of trying to fix the pearl!? At this rate, the Great Spirit of Light won’t show itself before us during the Contract Festival! Many people are looking forward to that day! You can’t just betray their expectations like this! As the High Council of the Elandian Autonomous Region, we have to do something–!”

Although the contents of his speech weren’t to blame, something became more than apparent as the young priest continued with his rant. He wasn’t saying those things because he was worried about the people, he was saying that just for the sake of opposing Safita.

“–I know you don’t like the Empire, Safita-sama, but you have to think about what’s better for your people! If we ask for their help, I’m sure they would do so!”

After proposing that they should ask the Empire for help, the young priest noticed that almost everyone present in the room was glaring at him.

The other priests were so enraged after hearing such a ridiculous proposal, that they could attack him at any moment.

However, Alihad didn’t want anything bad to happen to the young man, so he let out a small *Cough* to grab everyone’s attention, before saying–

“–You seem to be misunderstanding something, Salem-sama. We know that the purification of the pearl is important… but punishing the ones responsible for it’s corruption is just as important.”

“B-but we have to-!”

“Believe me, I know that we have to find a way to purify the pearl… but would you be willing to forgive someone who spat on your face multiple times? Although we’re part of the Empire now, everything has it’s limit… and we reached ours a long time ago.”

Part of the Empire.

Even Salem couldn’t help but grip his fists in frustration after hearing that. The people of the Eland kingdom hated that denomination more than anything. However, it’s not like they could go against an opponent that was a thousand times stronger than them… or at least, that’s what they thought.

“I can understand your frustration, Salem. The manifestation of the Spirit of Light is indispensable for the Contract Festival to succeed… but we can’t waste this opportunity. This is our only chance to be a free country again… this is our one way ticket to freedom.” – Said Safita, with a serious look on his face, as he scanned the entire room.

There was a flame of hope dwelling in his cold blue eyes.

“Even if the one who defiled the pearl is the Emperor himself, I’ll be sure find the one responsible and make them pay for what they’ve done to us… they will soon know what happens to those who make light of the spirits.”

There was a brief moment of silence after Safita said that, but that silence was soon replaced by the cheers of his close confidants, after all, he promised them he’d find and punish the ones responsible for the corruption of the pearl.

And just like that, the Elandian high council ended their meeting with the prospects of a better future finally within their grasps.

The only ones who stayed in the cathedral, after the meeting was over, were Safita and Alihad.

For a while, the old priest didn’t know what to say to his master, but after steeling his resolve, he kneeled in front of the young prince, and said–

“–I’m really, really sorry, Safita-sama… . ”

“Why are you apologizing, Alihad…?” – Said Safita, with a confused look on his face.

“Because… if I payed more attention to the pearl, then none of this would’ve happened… . ”

While staring at the sad look on Alihad’s face, Safita let out an ironic chuckle.

“So you’re telling me that it’s all your fault? Don’t make me laugh, Alihad… we both know that that’s not true. If it’s someone’s fault, then it’s mine. Even though I won that bloody succession war, I don’t have nearly enough spirit power to lead our people. I’m a shame to my ancestors.”

“Safita-sama… . ”

“In the first place, the ones who should be looking after the pearl are the royal family themselves. But I was too young at the time, so you took that burden off of my shoulders, along with the political affairs of this territory, Alihad. Instead of blaming you, I should be praising you for all these years of dedication. Without you, I would be just an incompetent ruler, since my eyes can’t even shine in a golden color… . ” – Said Safita, as he touched his left eye with a pained look on his face. ( Tl/n: I guess he’s talking about the blessing of the Great Spirit of Light.)

However, as soon as he noticed the troubled look that Alihad had on his face, Safita shook his head and went back to his normal expression.

“Anyway, if it turns out that the pearl is really suffering from magic power poisoning, then we’ll have to find a way to punish the Empire, without going to war with them. I don’t want to spill the blood of our countrymen again, but we can’t just keep quiet either, otherwise, we’ll risk angering the people.”

“I agree with you, Safita-sama. We can’t let them get away after they wounded our pride.” – Said Alihad, with a nod, as he looked deeply into the young prince’s blue eyes.

“Exactly. The Eland Kingdom was originally a religious country, and we are the descendants of the spirits themselves, so it’s our duty to uphold their beliefs, even if have to do it by force.”

“But the spirits don’t like conflicts, Safita-sama. If we attack the Empire, then they will draw away from us. We can’t make the first move… we have to think about our public appearance.”

“That… will be a bit complicated, huh?” – Said Safita, in a low tone.

In order to win against the Empire, Safita would have to borrow the power of the spirits. However, normal spirits wouldn’t do, after all, they were weak against magic power. That’s why he needed the power of the Five Greater Spirits. Only they were powerful enough to go against the Imperial army. But for the spirits to side with him, Safita would have to wait for the other side to attack him first, which would take some time, if not forever, to happen naturally.

At that moment, however, Alihad let out a small *Cough* to get Safita’s attention.

“If you can hear me out, I have a proposition to make, Safita-sama.”

“What is it?”

“The nobles of the Empire are a bunch of prideful people. If we use that pride against them, I’m sure we’ll get what we need to start our revenge.”

“The nobles, huh…? That’s a good idea… . ”

“Right? Seven years ago, the spirits didn’t do anything to protect us because we were engaged in a bloody war, so the Empire took advantage of that to rob us of our lands… but what do you think will happen if they disrespect us during the Contract Festival? The answer is simple: The spirits will get so mad, that they will destroy the Empire for us.”

“Hahaha! I’m starting to like your plan even more, Alihad… . ”

“The only problem though, is that we’ll have to execute the plan very carefully. The current Emperor is a sly bastard, so I’m sure he’ll notice our true intentions if we do something too flashy.”

“Hmm… then how about we use their noble women to move the plan forward…?” – Said Safita, with a pondering look on his face, as he grabbed his chin.

“Their noble women…? Why would we need to do that…?”

“Because, contrary to our women, it’s said that they make a fuss about anything, so if we bring them here, I’m sure that at least one of them is going to disrespect us.”

There are many depictions of arrogant nobles in the holy scriptures, so inviting them to the festival was a surefire method of getting what they wanted.

Besides, Safita had some bad run-ins with the women of the Empire after he was stripped of his status as royalty, so, in a way, he was doing that to get back at them as well.

“I see… that’s a good idea… but we should invite the noble women of other places as well, just in case that sly bastard finds anything suspicious. Also, if we disguise the invitation as if we’re searching for the priestess of light, then I’m sure many of them will come.”

“So we’re finally going to have our revenge, huh, Alihad…? Fufu, our lands will be ours again in no time.” – Said Safita, in a happy tone, as he looked outside of a nearby window.

The setting sun was shining so beautifully today, that he couldn’t help but smile when he saw that.