Chapter 138: Responses - I

The City of Arenas awoke to a morning filled with the news of two provinces being annihilated and one more decimated—their only leader assassinated in her own tower.

Many of its citizens were shocked, burning up in a frenzy.

They did not care about the possibility that they too would perish soon. With bags fully packed loaded onto their backs, they immediately set off towards the empty provinces in hopes of obtaining an arena or two for themselves.

This was a gold mine!

A power vacuum gold mine!

Those who’d been held down by the previous leaders could rise and contest for the now-ownerless resources.

Their logic was simple:

The lone Destruction Mage only needed the three provincial arenas to obtain three Fruits of Metamorphosis every harvest. As for the other arenas? It was impossible to do everything alone—unless you were Ellea, capable of cloning and Spatial Magic.

But even she had her limits, requiring underlings to manage the arenas while she sat above, using taxes and various fees to maintain her wealth.

It was impossible for a lone individual to eat up three provinces on their own.

"...Typical Walvaskaz," A sigh escaped one baffled Snakespawn, wondering why there was so much going on.

She had a layer of green scales framing a soft and delicate face, long blue-green hair like cascading ribbons, and vertically split topaz irises that gleamed in the blazing overhead, high-altitude sunlight.

It was Clementine who was hearing about the recent chaos through her cousins. In between bites of various local delicacies of the City of Spires, such as Cloud Eagles and Lightning Chickens, her cousins were undeniably engrossed in their gossip.

Through them, she learned about the death of a Dragon, the confrontation of the strongest under the gods, as well as the recent contests between factions all over the empire.

Many of these stories, however, sounded over the top.

Clementine couldn’t believe that a Dragon of all things had somehow perished.

"Oh, but it does make sense, sister Menti," Said Safurin, the youngest of the group.

Her green hair was a shaggy bob cut, with several bundles dyed a vibrant yellow, matching her golden eyes. Her expression was bubbling with a buzzing smile as she ate her breakfast.

"It was an infighting!" Safurin’s voice was like an excited whimper. "A fight between Mortal Gods! A clash between the Dragons themselves—"

"...And because of it, hundreds of millions of lives were snuffed out as collateral."

Melien sighed, still looking groggy despite the sun blazing right above their heads.

The sunbathing they enjoyed while eating was doing nothing to warm his frost-cold blood.

"Tut, tut," Safurin clicked her tongue at the eldest Melien. "You’re no fun, Meli!"

Clementine smacked her lips, ’When did Safurin develop the habit of giving people nicknames? And why is she still so... bright...?’

As far as Clementine was aware, Safurin had delved into the dark underworld to become an assassin. None of the cousins knew how many contracts she’d completed, but all of them were keenly aware of the stark contrast between Safurin’s smiling face and the lethality lingering about her.

In over three hundred years of her life, Clementine had never seen an assassin as jolly as Safurin, her own cousin.

"Continue the story, Safurin." Another cousin spoke this time.

It was Reurii, with the most beautiful face among them, yet lacking any desire to flaunt it. He always restrained his aura and natural charm, even going so far as to shave his head.

Still, his features were so sharp and pristine that the lack of hair just made his eyes all the more enchanting.

As the one closest in age to Clementine, he got along with everyone—very much unlike the latter, who was the pinnacle rebel in the family.

"Of course, of course." Safurin cleared her throat. "Where was I? Ah, yes, the fight between two Dragons—from what I was told, it was because the Dragon who was killed and had his entire status confiscated... made dealings with one of the gods!"

Hearing this, Melien paused, a frown appearing on his face.

"What kind of dealings?"

Safurin mused for a moment. "Some rumors claim that the Dragon was greedy, trying to use the Authorities wielded by the recently fallen Goddess Minerva to bolster his position among the Dragons. Others say that the Dragon was plotting to assassinate one of his own kin and needed external help."

"However, what I feel is most likely is that there was no dealing at all!"

A sly smile appeared on Safurin’s face.

"My intuition as an assassin tells me that this Dragon was framed. Either by one of his own kin, or by someone else."

Safurin then made a gesture, her fingertips glowing with a mild starry darkness. Suddenly, the sun above their dining table dimmed, and a dome of secrecy veiled the next words that would come out of her lips.

Her voice descended into a whisper. "And that someone else should be Arvishue’rre, the King of the High Winged Lions!"

Safurin squealed with glee, enjoying the confused and appalled gazes of her cousins with every incredible statement she dropped.

"He has so much guts to waltz right in front of Ballenvauch, but it’s also the only way he can hide from the Dragons’ <Law of Pride>. However, it shouldn’t work for long. Arvishue’rre is in big trouble."

Melien and Clementine’s conflicted gazes met, before drifting towards Reurii, who was staring at Safurin with a blank gaze.

Reurii couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say, opening his mouth and closing it again.

Seeing as no one had spoken for a long time, the only cousin who had yet to speak took this opportunity to do so.

Sirion, the second youngest and the most magical of all of them, had just finished casting several Magic Spells in succession. His simple and unassuming appearance was in stark contrast to the magical aura he exuded, as if his very simplicity was but a fa?ade.

"Little Safurin is right." Sirion then waved with an open palm, summoning an illusory letter onto the dining table. "I intercepted a communication line between the Dread Wolves... Arvishue’rre’s descendants had been targeted."

Safurin’s expression turned from mildly annoyed by Sirion’s mode of address to shock and excitement. "Oh my~! Already?! It hasn’t been even a week! Tell me, what happened?"

Chuckling, Sirion opened the illusory letter on the table. "It’s related to the chaos in the City of Arenas we talked about earlier. The White Roar Clan has been massacred, along with an organization of Beast Humans known as the 16 Claws and a lone powerhouse named Ellea.

"That White Roar Clan had a lot of Arvishue’rres great, great, great-grandchildren. I believe it was the current Winged Lion Patriarch in that clan—Vin’seth.

"Now, an entire branch of royal offspring had been decimated. From what the Dread Wolves are doing now, it seems like the other Winged Lions are out for blood."

Melien lazily raised a brow. "Only the Winged Lions?"

Sirion nodded. "Only the Winged Lions."

Clementine tilted her head upon hearing Melien’s question and Sirion’s response. The way they conversed so concisely hinted at something she did not know.

"What do you two mean by ’only?’"

Reurii was the one who answered. "It’s terrible luck for those above A-Rank to target those who had yet to undergo Evolution."

"Luck?" Clementine frowned. "Why would the High Winged Lions care about luck?"

"Two things," Reurii blinked as he gazed into the distance. "The first is the Game of Walvaskaz, and the second is... well... a series of unfortunate coincidences that one can only attribute to bad luck."

Clementine was thoroughly confused. Having yet to step onto A-Rank and further being disconnected from the Vielour Family’s affairs, she had no opportunity to come into contact with the top brass.

Unlike Sirion and Safurin, who were both at the pinnacle of A-Rank due to their talents, Melien, who was always in a position of leadership despite his laziness, and even Reurii, who worked with a lot of different big names, Clementine was an adventurer who’d been exiled from the family, whose nature was to shy away from conflict.

That was why she had yet to breach A-Rank.

That was why she always thought her return to the family would be lonely.

"Fufu~"

And that was why... none of Clementine’s cousins expected her to return with a High Snakespawn like Lillie.

An S-Rank existence was accompanying a lowly B-Rank like Clementine... That undermined Safurin’s understanding of the world and made Sirion weaken his desire to show off.

Just like now, with Lillie simply drifting through Safurin’s barrier of secrecy and Sirion’s many protective Magic Spells—all of the Vielour cousins finally understood what an S-Rank was like.

...It made them hunger for Evolution all the more.

But it was a hunger they reined in for now, terrified of disrespecting the High Snakespawn in their midst.

"Ah... Madame," Clementine was surprised to find Lillie having appeared behind her all of a sudden. The weight of two mountains rested on her head, inches away from spilling out of the long, flowing nightgown that did nothing to hide the swirling snake scale patterns on her supple skin.

"Don’t think about the Game of Walvaskaz for now, dear." Lillie touched Clementine’s forehead with a gentle tap. "Doing so will muddy your path."

Then, the High Snakespawn’s alluring gaze caressed the other Vielour cousins. "The same goes for the four of you. Though it lies at the pinnacle of your rank... this barrier of secrecy of yours does nothing against those who’ve truly crossed the threshold of Evolution."

"All you have to know is that the Game of Walvaskaz isn’t something you, nor even I, can fathom. It is something that only those one step beneath godhood are qualified to interfere with."

Lillie smiled with an air of mystery.

"Still... I’ll let you all in on what I think is the reason why this bad luck exists. Those of my Rank and above indeed cannot strike down those weaker, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have other ways of harming them. Although we truly face a great deal of coincidental opposition from other S-Ranks the moment we act against those below S-Rank, as long as we don’t act directly, we are free to use our full strength."

Then, Lillie drifted away, having stolen the newly brewed tea on the cousins’ dining table.

"Think about what that implies by yourselves~"