“Grandfather, are you sure about it?” Lulu asked, standing before her grandfather in his study. She was in the capital city of the Elroth Kingdom, Irgimith, and her eyes flashed with mixed emotions.

“I am.” His response came with a tired voice. Kaipan looked like an old man by now; his hair was quickly graying, his eyes were much more faded, and he had lost a lot of his strength and aura from before. “Your father’s corpse was finally retrieved; he died that day, just as we feared. I confirmed it with my own eyes.”

“I see…” Lulu answered, staying calm, yet her voice choked slightly at the end. “You know… in part this was….”

“Our fault.” Kaipan sighed, not letting her finish, surprising Lulu with his words, “Don’t need to look at me like that. I can see where our ambition led us! Because we rarely saw Zelig, we did not realize his true strength. We thought we could overthrow the Naulins… Since he returned and Rudrick was gone, he governed the rest of the kingdoms as a despot of this so-called alliance. On the surface, he is listening to us, yet everything always goes as he ‘suggests.’ Why do you think he lets that traitor of a king alone?”

“So he can cause trouble, and by that, he can exert more control using him as an excuse.” she crossed her arms, leaning against the study’s walls, watching her grandfather.

“Yes. Our Kingdom, because of our ties with your Sect, is under constant attacks. I lose people daily, Lulu. Daily.”

“...”

Soon, silence ruled the room as Lulu’s feelings were mixed. She saw her usually strong and bossy grandfather, whom she feared when growing up, looking like an old man, weakened and broken and at his wit’s end.

“My only solace is that I still have my grandchildren, even though I lost my son,” he spoke up again, looking at Lulu. “How’re the boys?”

“Honestly?” Lulu chuckled softly. “They are enjoying their stay. Maybe they will join the Sect. Who knows!”

“Why not? I was thinking the same.”

“Excuse me?” she raised her eyebrows, thinking she had misheard him.

“I’m planning to join the Immortal Wonders Sect. With the whole Kingdom in tow.”

“What are you talking about?!” Lulu walked to his desk, slamming her hands on it, looking into her grandfather’s eyes.

“I had enough, Lulu! The kingdom will collapse sooner or later, and either we will be taken over by some Naulin fuck, who brainwashes your grandfather, or I will be killed and someone else placed in my position! But that would be too much of a merciful thing to do, and Zelig is not that kind of man!” Kaipan laughed in a depressive tone. “So I decided! I am out! Out of the alliance of the kingdoms, not like any of those fucks are willing to help us anyway!”

“You want to… break up the Kingdom of Ten?” She asked with an open mouth. “That is why you called me here?”

“It won’t break up. It just needs to change its name to the Kingdom of Nine.” He chuckled. “My kingdom is going to be independent of them once again. Can you take this to your Sect Head?” He gave her a sealed letter with Lulu’s family’s crest.

“Grandfather… This…” She said, taking it, not knowing how to react to his idea.

“Let him decide. I’ll wait for his answer before anything.” he leaned backward, seemingly aging another few years by only a minute.

Lulu was stumped at what to say, but in the end, she left, hurrying back to the Sect and immediately giving the letter to Aerthus. She did not want to even think about it; she did not wait until Aerthus opened it and just left, going into a quiet place, sitting down on the lush grass around her, and watching the running water of the Shert River.

“You back?” Yanda walked up to her a few minutes later, noticing her return the moment she flew over the Sect. “How… did it… go?” He asked, but his voice slowly died down as he saw the rolling tears at the side of Lulu’s face.

“It was shit!” she said, wiping her eyes and clearing her throat. “My family is falling apart, same with the kingdom… I also received confirmation today that the idiot father of mine did die!” she said, trying to sound angry and annoyed. Still, her face and eyes revealed her pain as it finally clicked inside her brain after sitting alone for a minute.

“I’m sorry….” Yanda whispered, sitting beside her, hugging her close to his chest, gently caressing her hair as she silently whimpered, hiding away in his lap.

…

….

…..

Later that night, Aerthus held a meeting amongst the Grand Elders, showing them the letter Kaipan sent over, and they could read it as he let them think about it as long as they needed.

“This is a risky move if we take him up on his offer,” Carthus said, speaking up first and throwing the letter into the middle of the round table where they were sitting.

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“I don’t see too much problem with it.” Levictus looked at him. He was the direct son of Aerthus and the newly returned Grand Elder of the Formation Department. “It is not rare that sects have affiliate kingdoms under them. They exist in a symbiotic relationship.”

“Like?” Xendar asked with a curious voice, leaning back on his chair.

“They have an ally to fall back on,” Leviticus explained. “Usually, a kingdom’s fighting capability is dwarfed by that of a Sect. They are under protection if they are attacked by another kingdom or even by another sect. Joining under one sect grants them a defensive pact. If disciples trespass on their territory, they are protected by their parent sect. They keep their freedom and their way to rule, but in exchange for falling under the protective umbrella of the sect they ally with, they offer up resources in exchange.”

“So we are exploiting them for resources?” Dermitos asked with a weird voice.

“I said symbiotic, not parasitic.” Levictus replied without any change in his flat, monotone voice, “They do not have the skills, techniques, nor the knowledge to correctly utilize the resources they have in their possessions. It is only going to go to waste. That is a fact.” He looked into their eyes, waiting for a little before continuing, “They offer up resources; in exchange, we protect their interests, and they have straight access to the same goods as our disciples. Of course, not for free, but we can work out the prices. Are we not already trading with them with pills for the same resources?”

“I see.” Dermitos nodded, rethinking it while Xendar crossed his hands before his chest, mulling over his explanation and the letter in the middle of the table. Kaipan’s words were simple and straightforward. He unconditionally offered his whole kingdom as a vassal force to the Immortal Wonders Sect in exchange for their protection against the ‘Kingdom of Nine’ and against ‘Heaven’s Gate's potential retaliation.

“Still…” Carthus leaned forward. “We all know well how the Kingdom looks at things. If they announce that they step back from their alliance and immediately join us, it will fuel Zelig’s words about us wanting to conquer them. He will have ‘truth’ to his words… or at least he could say so. It will immediately lead to conflicts as he will try to take the whole kingdom for himself.”

“What if we remove Zelig from the picture?” Another voice echoed suddenly as the door opened, and Ren walked in, cupping her hands, greeting them. “You must be Levictus, right? Nice to meet you, and also, sorry to just barge in like this!” She smiled at the group, coming inside.

“Oh? You are finally back?” Aerthus laughed, flicking his hand as another chair appeared so she could sit amongst them. Levictus just watched her, trying to see through her, yet could not, no matter how hard he tried.

“You look much better,” Xendar said, happy to finally see his daughter lively once again.

“I do feel better.” Ren nodded with a smile.

“You say that we should kill Zelig?” Carthus asked in the end, driving the conversation back to the topic.

“Him too.” Ren nodded. “As long as he is in the picture, there won’t be peace. Simply because of the history between him and Sect Head.”

“That… is… true,” Aerthus answered, thinking it through with a sigh. “He won’t step back, never, not while I am alive.”

“Also, I captured the leader of Ironclaw… or at least one of the three.” Ren looked at them while she told them what had happened in the Empire the previous weeks. “I transferred him and the rest of the close circle he was keeping under him to Thunder Valley. Then, I interrogated them thoroughly. Feynor is still cleaning up the remaining bases, but soon, there will be no more Ironclaw presence in the Empire.”

“Great!” Dermitos clapped, and Carthus also nodded approvingly, happy to hear the news.

“Here.” Ren placed hundreds of papers on the table with a wave of her hand. “All the bases, names, and connections they have or had. Including the ones in the Kingdom. One of these places has Rudrick in it.”

“You were not kidding when you said you would clean up, huh?” Her father smiled.

“I’m just getting started! I heard the gist of what you were discussing before.” Ren continued, looking at Levictus before she turned towards Aerthus. “I’m going to move onto the Kingdom’s territory now. I say let us accept King Kaipan’s offer. I’ll travel there with my disciples and ensure nobody causes trouble.”

“You are trying to be the bait?” Dermitos asked, looking at Ren, who just nodded at his question.

“The Elroths quitting the alliance will be a great spark, and we will see who comes out from the woodwork to cause trouble or try to kill me. Or to kill Kaipan.” Ren nodded. “It would be best if Rudrick also reared his ugly face so I can bash it in.”

“I see you are confident. Even in taking on Zelig?” Aerthus smiled, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes as his aura scanned Ren. “Oh?” Ren just chuckled, watching him reopen his eyes before, for a millisecond, she let out her genuine aura. The next moment, Xendar just laughed loudly, sitting next to her, unable to hold it back himself. His eyes were blazing with a proud fire.

“Incredible…” Levictus blinked his eyes rapidly, not expecting to find someone like this here. Since he came over, he had heard a lot about her from the elders or disciples, yet it was only now that he realized he still underestimated her. “Someone at the third level and not even half a century old… I heard of a few legendary figures who did this… but never saw one in person.”

“There were people who reached the same height so quickly?” Dermitos asked as he raised his eyebrows.

“A few.” Aerthus and Levictus answered at the same time before Aerthus continued, “There were always talented people around in every era. There was even one who reached the Demigod status before turning 70.”

“I guess they are some powerhouses now, huh? Having their sect and all….” Dermitos smiled.

“No.” Leviticus shook his head. “They are dead.” He surprised them while Ren only chuckled, guessing at the reason.

“The nail that sticks out gets hammered in…” She sighed softly.

“Or their ego and hubris led them into death’s embrace.” Lecivtus agreed with her with a heavy nod.

“So be careful.” Aerthus echoed his son’s thoughts while looking into Ren’s eyes. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

“Don’t worry, Master.” She stood up, cupping her hands. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Good! So? Do we agree to accept King Kaipan’s request?” He looked around the rest as they nodded. “Then it is decided. I’ll write up the official letter, Ren. Are you going to bring it to him?”

“Sure.” She grinned, stretching happily. “If everything goes smoothly… Soon, Heaven’s Gate will have to elect a new leader, just as the Kingdom of Naulin!”