Chapter 146 - A Smoke Of Internal Dispute In The Clan
The words of that man didn't have any threat of any kind, however they held great sincerity in his warning. Arthur was surprised by this old man's words, as he never thought that old man would see through him, and detect his acquisition of the heavenly garden.
"Thanks for the advice great elder," Arthur replied, following the same respectful manner Raya used to address that man.
"Young and intelligent, powerful yet humble, ambitious but fair… these are rare traits in our times. I just hope you continue to be friends with our Raya, and our clan will always be a second home for you," the old man said, vague words with deep hidden meanings.
Arthur didn't know if he already figured out his dragonair's powers, but he had already put that in his consideration. The warm friendly words of this man made him feel satisfied though, with no sense of danger coming from him.
He only felt danger from others, those with great powers in this world could detect his presence, and that might put him at some risk.
Despite that, he never felt regret having this power. It was the fate of strong to always face threats, and he always welcomed them with open arms and strong hearts.
"Thanks for the kind words, great elder," Arthur said, before thinking about giving this elder something as a gift. The problem he didn't know what he could give to him, as his most precious thing was that bronzed giant remains.
"May I give the great elder this small gift?" he suddenly took one of his nine rings out, where he put inside some bones and skin remains of that bronzed giant. These materials were really precious, and such gifts might please this old man.
"Oh, thanks for your gift," the old man simply replied, casually taking the ring. As Arthur thought, the ring itself was a common thing here, at least to someone like this old man.
However the moment that old man took the ring, and wore it, his eyes flashed with a bright light, as his face changed for a moment, making everyone surrounding them feel astonished.
This old man had a very high position in their clan, and not any usual treasure could make his face change like this, not even long lost plants from ancient times.
"That's an interesting gift," the elder just said these words before he took out a small ore from his own storage ring. The ore was ovoid in shape, with pure white color moving inside it, like clouds forming, coalescing, and disbanding again and again. "Take this gift, it will help to secure your soul from the threats you are facing."
The moment Arthur touched this ore, his soul felt some resonance, revernishized by this ore as if it was very thirsty and just touched water. The words of the elder made Arthur sure of his previous guesses, that the elder even saw through his dragonair book and the threats it carried.
'What a very dangerous man, good I'm a friend not a foe,' he simply sighed, helplessly, as if this man already knew all his secrets, he could easily crush him if he wanted.
"I will leave you with your guests, Rayan," the old man said, as he started to walk away. Just before he went a few steps away, he added, "make sure to treat them as you treat Godatent."
Arthur didn't know what that even meant, but he was sure this was a direction to how Rayan treat him in matters of status. he just hoped this Godatent nature of treating wasn't a master and servant relation, as if so he would find himself obliged to stand on the opposite side of Raya.
Arthur didn't fear Raya much, but he greatly was alarmed by that old man. If that clan had already more like him, then this clan should be a place he shouldn't touch for a long time.
He also started to think about other great clans and guilds. If they were just like this one here, then he would be like a frog eyed the world from the depth of a well, and he had to be more careful at the academy.
The elder vanished rapidly from the sight of everyone, and when that happened, Rayan turned to look at Arthur, with a very big smile over his face, finally showing his true emotions he held deep inside him from before.
"Brother Willy, I never thought you have such a great treasure to make our great elder this satisfied of you," he said, before gesturing with his hand towards a nearby gate as he added, "come, let's go inside and rest for a while."
Arthur followed him through the gate, while the others followed silently behind. What just happened had made everyone realize that they didn't yet know their leader this well enough. This small incident left a great mark inside all of them, especially Ron, Amelia, Iman, and of course Noura.
They found themselves inside a wide hall, with many opened windows that let the daylight in. they felt great peace the moment their feet entered this place, some effect coming from the ores that hall was made of.
The hall wasn't empty, as many mages were already seated there on low leveled cushions, surrounding round tables with many food and drinks over them.
The entrance of Arthur and his group attracted the attention of everyone, and in a few moments, some of the mages responsible for organizing this hall came to speak with Rayan, with whispers audible nearly to the whole hall.
"Esteemed sprout elder, you know the rules," one of the mages spoke up, with a respectful, yet blaming tone.
"We can't just let them in, I think you registered them as a prion treatment group, right?" another mage spoke, while referring to Arthur and his group.
"The great elder himself changed this, and gave them the godatent treatment," Raya simply replied, with a plain look on his face, "so, make out the way now, and prepare for everything."
His words came from a higher state, but Arthur felt some aggressiveness in them. He saw how Raya dealt with many mages here, so he could tell this wasn't a mere fluke of his.
Raya was intentionally treating these mages in such a harsh way, and this must have a reason behind it.
'Any great tree will have intersecting branches,' Arthur thought to himself, knowing this was a normal thing to find in such a large clan.