While they were eating their breakfast, Sylas entered the dining room, compared to yesterday he had a couple of bandages covering some places of his body but he was smiling from ear to ear, it was a kind of smile that Aster could easily recognize.
“Aren’t you a bit old to be playing around… I wonder who was the “lucky” lady”, he thought.
That’s right, just like Sarina felt something was weird when she saw Alice, Aster noticed that the old man had a “fun” night too, luckily Sarina couldn’t completely understand or the conversation that Aster was saving for later would have taken place earlier.
Sylas took a cup of juice and sat next to his daughter; Sarina offered him some food but he refused.
“Don’t worry about me lass, I already ate earlier, that old woman showed some compassion to me hahaha, since I needed to eat for the antidotes to properly do their job”.
He drank a sip of his juice before continuing.
“She also gave me her diagnosis of the black poison sample you gave me, but the analysis of that excuse of a black general will take more time… the results are so serious that Orson decided to finally use one of our informants in Riga”.
Sarina’s expression turned serious.
Luonto also had its spies in Riga, but there was a difference, Riga was more of a tyranny than a kingdom, to the point were only those whose loyalty had been secured using a Soul Oath or the Heart Binding Worm could use a communication talisman, and no matter where you were they would detect and inspect any transmission.
That’s why the spies from Luonto were few and very valuable, because they would only be able to inform once… and that would be the end of the line to them, the fact that the king decided to use one was a clear sign that things were quite bad.
Aster was also interested in whatever information the spy might provide them, he had a theory that needed some confirmation after all, Sylas proceeded to tell them what the alchemist discovered.
“Those guys from Riga found a way to add corruption to their poisons to make them more lethal, the effects seem to vary but at the very least the one that used that woman against you, was a part of a living corrupted which had liquification properties, probably the kind of corrupted you can find in a swamp”.
He pointed at the bandages on his body and added.
“In my case, the black smoke used by that guy had enhancing properties and corroding properties, which explains why I felt he was too easy to defeat… because he wasn’t a star vertex cultivator originally, it’s similar to what happened to Robert, his strength augmented but he wasn’t going to live too much after that, once the royal alchemist finishes her analysis we will more or less understand what the hell is going on”.
Aster reached a conclusion.
“So, in short words, both the princess and that black robed man were disposable peons?”.
Sylas nodded.
“Yes, what we don’t understand is why are they acting at this precise moment, it’s obvious they have been infiltrated here for a long time and that is understandable as just another try to weaken our borders, but adding this new “corrupting elements” and the fact that they were planning to help Robert become the king instead of just eliminating us like before, changes the whole situation… they were probably looking for something”.
Silence remained in the room, the situation wasn’t favorable for Luonto, their enemies developed new weapons and they didn’t, Sarina sighed, she was happy for her recovery but at this point it was uncertain what would be of her or Kana, if Riga wins the conflict, then life would be worse than death for all the natives of Luonto.
Sylas saw the worried expression in his daughter’s face and he shook his head.
“Lass, you don’t need to worry… this is not the first time we have to deal with Riga and I’m sure it won’t be the last either, if anything I wish you and little Kana could go to a place where you didn’t have to go through all this”, he said while stealing some glances at Aster.
Speaking of Aster, he was debating with himself, at this point he could practically guess that the portal which opened in Zartia recently, had something to do with what Riga was trying to achieve here, in fact it’s also possible that the guys from the sand mountain sect were now helping the Riga continent, so it was time to clear some things.
He turned to see Alice which had similar thoughts and she nodded.
“Old man, do you remember, that yesterday I told you there were some things we needed to discuss?”.
Sylas nodded.
“Yes… is it something urgent?”.
Aster cleared his throat.
“Yes, you already know that we aren’t from this planet, but to be honest we aren’t from any nearby planets like you think”.
…
Aster told them all what happened for them to arrive at Prasil, the existence of the portal in Zartia, the fact that there were thought this place was a secret realm in the beginning and more importantly, that the sand mountain sect was probably helping Riga.
As expected, it was a bit too much for them to process, Sylas was specially confused, he doubted before saying.
“Kid, if it weren’t for the fact that you had done things, I used to believe were impossible, like defeating a star vertex cultivator while being in the elemental core realm, I would have thought you went crazy”.
“Besides Prasil and the nearby planets, there aren’t any other … star clusters, was it? here, it has always been like that, our galaxy is surrounded by some kind of wall which we can’t bypass, even those who surpassed the star vertex realm in the past couldn’t do anything about it and eventually died in wars or stagnated due to the lack of spirit energy and died of old age”.
Now it was time for Aster to be surprised, according to what Lilia has taught him, star tribulation cultivators can easily bypass the stellar boundary which separates a star cluster from others.
“Old man, have you personally confirmed that you can’t leave this galaxy, even after you reached the star vertex realm?”.
Sylas nodded.
“Yes, we have tried in secret many times before”.
Aster saw Sarina put on a confused expression and he mentally sighed, sooner or later she was going to find out about this, so it was better to explain things before things became serious between them.
Their attention was drawn by the sudden appearance of Orson in the room, he was drenched in sweat and his face was pale so it was clear that things weren’t good, Sylas stood up and helped the king sit down.
“Oi brat, don’t die on me, what is happening? It looks like you saw a ghost or something like that”.
Orson took a couple of seconds to calm down before he answered.
“Uncle… we are in deep shit, I used half of the spies we have in Riga and the information they sent is out of this world both figuratively and literally, somehow the royal family of Riga allied with people from outside of the wall that surrounds our galaxy, that’s why they suddenly accelerated their plans… they want whatever is locked in the chamber below the castle”.
Sylas’s expression turned deadly serious, he was the closest friend of the former king but even he didn’t know what was hidden below the castle, his friend only told him that it was something their ancestor left behind for an extreme emergency, since the foundation of Luonto, a star vertex cultivator has always been guarding the entrance to that place.
With the pass of the years five important positions in the royal court were created, guardian of the border, royal alchemist, librarian, the captain of the royal guard and finally the gatekeeper which secures the entrance to the secret chamber.
Out of those five Aster already met the guardian of the border which is Sylas, the captain of the royal guard which is Karl, although he hasn’t seen her, the royal alchemist is the one that cured Sylas’s yesterday, so now the only ones left were the librarian and the gatekeeper.
Orson sent a message through his communication talisman and a couple of minutes later and old man with the look of an erudite entered the room, the old man bowed his head and presented himself.
“The librarian Leister Grim, greets the king”.
Sylas snorted.
“So, you finally appear, bookworm old man, where the hell were hiding your ass yesterday when we needed to protect the capital!!!”.
The librarian immediately replied.
“Unlike a savage like you, I’m not a battle maniac, my duty was to keep an eye on the royal library and protect the knowledge legated to us by our ancestors, so the whole night I didn’t sleep waiting just in case the spies from Riga which bypassed your borders were going to try and destroy our history”.
Orson sighed, these two old men were like water and oil, since they were young, they didn’t get along.
“Uncle, senior Grim, we don’t have time for this now, I need to see the hidden records of the royal family, maybe there is some information regarding what the hell is hidden below the castle, it’s going to be hard to convince the gatekeeper of letting us enter if we don’t have any information”.
Aster was confused.
“Can’t you just order him to let you enter?”, he said.
The old librarian finally noticed that besides Sylas there were other people in the room, between them it was Sarina, Kana and two other youngsters which he hasn’t ever seen before.
“Sylas, what the hell is your family doing in the royal castle, not only them but even two complete strangers… I normally wouldn’t say anything but how are you sure they aren’t also allied with the Riga continent like Robert was?”.
Sylas laughed.
“If you weren’t hugging your books yesterday you would understand why they are here, that kid is a descendant from the golden knight, despite him being in the elemental core realm, he fought and defeated a star vertex realm cultivator, if I were you, I would keep my mouth shut”.
Leister’s eyes widened, as the guardian of all the knowledge in Luonto of course he knew about the golden knight, it’s a story that goes back to the time of Luonto’s greatest ancestor after all.
To avoid any problems, Orson interfered.
“Please calm down Senior Grim, Aster is a honorable guest and the hero of our kingdom, if it weren’t for him, we would probably lost the capital city yesterday, the royal guard found tons of barrels full with poison hidden below the ground and inside secret storages, so it’s not an exaggeration to say that he saves us all”.
Leister sighed, he slightly bowed his head towards Aster and Alice.
“I’m sorry for being impolite, but from this point onwards we are going to be speaking about the major secrets of the royal family…. My king, are you sure you want them to be present?”.
The king looked at Sylas which only nodded, taking into account what Aster told them before Orson arrived, they were going to need all the help they could get, considering that the guys that allied with Riga had a cultivator which has surpassed the star vertex realm.
Orson spoke.
“Let’s go to the strategic room, senior Grim please bring all the classified books, we have work to do”.