Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1259: The Aelum Kingdom’s Sky

The Royal Palace grounds of the Aelum Kingdom were filled with vast and imposing castles, their outer walls rising high with intricate carvings that displayed the legacy of generations of rulers.

Towers and spires stretched toward the sky, and wide courtyards led inward through layers of gates and gardens, each more ornate than the last.

Evan was led through these corridors, past banners and statues, directly toward the King’s Palace.

Inside, he was guided into a rectangular conference room with a long, polished table at its centre, its surface gleaming under the light of hanging chandeliers.

Seated at the head of the table was a man dressed in elaborately layered formal attire, adorned with elegant embroidery. His royal blue hair was styled neatly, and his very dark blue eyes rested naturally on his refined facial features, matching his composed expression.

At his left was another man dressed in similarly formal clothing. He had fairly normal black-coloured hair, and very deep, leaf green eyes that contrasted strongly with his otherwise ordinary facial features.

Evan didn’t need his Appraisal skill to identify the two men, King Taher Simeon de Aelum, and his right-hand man, Grand Duke Leoglor Zylwenys IV.

This wasn’t an official audience held before King Taher VII’s throne, but Evan wasn’t surprised since Sharon had already informed him that the official audience was scheduled for another day.

Still, he was meeting the sovereign of another nation, so he acted like the Marquis that he was, offering his greeting politely.

"The Marquis Bourne greets the Aelum Kingdom’s Sky," he said, raising his gaze before shifting into a more casual tone.

"Nice to meet you, Your Majesty."

Taher showed no surprise at Evan’s change in tone, having already anticipated it, so he nodded and responded, "Nice to meet you, too, Marquis Bourne."

Gesturing toward the seat at his right, he spoke.

"Have a seat."

"Thank you," Evan replied, taking a step forward before pausing and asking, "May I request a little ease on the formalities?"

Taher nodded without speaking, and at this, Evan smiled, continuing his steps toward the empty seat at Taher’s right, and before sitting, he extended a hand to the green-eyed man opposite him and spoke. "Pleasure to meet you, Your Grace."

Leoglor accepted the handshake quietly, responding with only a single word.

"Pleasure."

Evan then took his seat, with Sharon moving to the next seat to the Grand Duke’s left, and immediately, Taher spoke.

"Formal proceedings will occur at a later date, but before that, which only serves as a show for the public eyes, I wish to thank you once again for saving Sharon’s life, both as a King and as a father."

"You’re welcome, Your Majesty," Evan replied calmly, "I only acted to eliminate a threat to an ally of the GWE. And besides, I believe the princess should’ve already informed you of my desired form of gratitude, if any."

"Yes, she has," Taher said, raising a hand and summoning a folder which he dropped onto the table before sliding it toward Evan.

When Evan opened it and began looking through its contents, Taher started speaking.

"The Solaris Union is making some rather bold demands. Drafting an International Law to keep a GWE Marquis out of their borders is already unreasonable enough, but the fact that they’ve already secured the backing of five nations is even more surprising."

Evan flipped through the papers in the folder, the bios of all the Solaris Union politicians and officials pushing for this International Law, and after going through a few pages, he began to notice a common detail among all of them.

Just then, King Taher leaned back in his chair and remarked, "It would seem you’re not as friendly with this continent’s Celestials as you are with yours."

Evan chuckled lightly, shaking his head as he continued flipping through the bios in the documents, seeing how each one of them was either a Celestial or connected to them in some manner.

Closing the folder, Evan then spoke, "December, Year 1054, Tarse. I’m sure you’re well aware of the incident where a ’Fallen Deity’ murdered 2.5 million citizens of Kreah Trade City, which forced me to use a last-ditch move, summoning the goddess Artemisia herself to deal with the threat."

When he said this, Taher nodded. "Indeed, we’re already well aware of this tale."

"Well, that Deity was of the Celestial race, as you’re probably already aware of as well. And, well, let’s just say that the nation of Tarse isn’t the only country that has these ’Fallen Celestial Deities’, and the Alpha continent isn’t the only continent with them."

At this point, Taher and Leoglor already understood that Evan was implying that the reason the Solaris Union was pushing for this International Law to be drafted was that those FCDs were behind it, attempting to keep him out and away from them.

"They seem to be wary of me, believing that I’m against them," Evan continued, shrugging lightly. "Well, I can’t blame them, considering their leader and higher-ups murdered 2.5 million people. It’s completely understandable that they’d be worried I’d come after them as well, the same way I went after their leader in a failed attempt to stop him from killing those millions, and they’re even more concerned now since they know I’m far stronger and more influential than I was back then."

Evan’s voice was tinged with a hint of melancholy as he spoke, a subtle emotional shift that Taher and Leoglor did not miss, but he quickly concealed it before continuing.

"I’ll be blunt. The Demonic Hand, the organisation that has been behind the majority of the disasters that have plagued the Alpha Continent in recent years, has no dealings with the Solaris Union. This is naturally due to the presence of those FCDs.

However, they do have dealings in some of the countries that the Solaris Union is trying to bring into their plan for international law, and as the Princess," he said, glancing toward Sharon, "has likely already informed you, I have plans to form an international coalition between nations of the world, and having a law that keeps me out of certain nations’ borders isn’t going to help with that."

Taher and Leoglor, especially Leoglor, had their own thoughts regarding this ’Coalition’ Evan planned to create, but they didn’t speak and allowed him to continue.

"I’m sure you all have also realised that their claim of me ’attracting disasters’ couldn’t be any more false. I simply reveal the ’disasters’ already lurking beneath the surface before their planned time.

Take Lacertilia, for example. I wasn’t anywhere near the Dungeon City when the break happened."

"That much, I have realised," Taher said, then he drummed his fingers on the table before continuing, "But I also understand the fears of my fellow rulers, the ones gathering under the Solaris Union’s banner.

Many things about you are...questionable, to say the least."

Evan didn’t need the man to say anything further to understand where he was heading with this.

"Another inquiry about the source of my information on the Demonic Hand? You guys really don’t get tired, do you?"

Shaking his head lightly, he tapped the table and generated several holograms, his silent skill activation surprising everyone present within the room aside from Sharon, who had already witnessed it before.

Ignoring their reactions, Evan displayed holograms of Emperor Rudeus of the GWE and Emperor Lloris of Tarse as he spoke.

"Several monarchs of the Alpha Continent, these two included, have witnessed me acquiring information about the Demonic Hand by...asking the captured members nicely."

Evan said that last part with a smile, lightly tapping his fingertips against each other with small flames appearing on contact.

That was enough for all of them to understand that Evan didn’t ask anyone anything nicely.

"So you tortured them for information?" Leoglor asked bluntly, and Evan nodded.

"This is top secret, and I trust that everyone in this room will keep it that way, but currently being held captive in the highest-level maximum-security prison in Tarse’s capital, Saharion, is an Executive of the Demonic Hand, its Sixth Finger, Seith Beddoe."

The hologram changed to the image of the chained and magically sealed Seith, and at the sight, King Taher muttered, "You captured an Executive? When?"

"Shortly before the battle in the Wild Lands. The Executive’s capture was exactly what caused the Battle in the Wild Lands to begin when it did. The Demonic Hand realised their plans had been compromised and acted quickly to prevent me from interfering with everything.

Unfortunately for them, targeting Seith was the final stage of my plan to interfere with them, so it changed nothing."

Evan glanced around the room, looking at the shining chandeliers and then at the shadows in the corners before speaking. "Before now, only Emperor Lloris, Empress Cayenne, and my fellow Heroes were aware of this. I trust that the number of ears that hear of this won’t increase."

Right after Evan said that, a look of remembrance appeared in his eyes, and he turned to Leoglor and added, "I suppose your daughter and her adventurer companion are aware as well."

Leoglor’s eyes immediately narrowed.

"And exactly why is my daughter involved?"

"Her adventurer companion was involved in the battle that took down a third of the Sixth Division’s combat forces. We became acquainted in Bultom City back in 1052."

"Bultom. The Cheverton Undead Disaster?"

Evan nodded silently to Leoglor’s question, then dismissed his holograms as he spoke.

"Still, I have to say, it’s quite the turn of events. I never expected the adventurer I encountered in the guild that day to actually be your daughter."

"Is that so?" Leoglor asked, raising an eyebrow in feigned surprise. "I was under the impression you approached her knowing she was my daughter."