Sylas handed Orson the list of materials that Aster gave him, some of them were specified of being herbs and there were other things like ores or metals, needless to sat but Sylas has never been in charge of the commercial aspects of Oak heart city, although he might recognize treasures, he didn’t know how valuable they would be.
The king thoroughly read the list and he frowned his eyebrows, he hasn’t seen nor heard of any of the things written… with only one exception, the last material listed was called “rainbow clover”, and he saw it in the memories of the second king.
Aster didn’t know it but the materials Rya asked him to gather if he wanted to help her recover faster were accommodated from the rarest to the most “common”, of course even the most common one was not something easy to find, as even Lilia has only heard of a couple of them but she had no idea where to find them nowadays.
But this time fortune decided to smile at Aster, Orson smiled.
“Seems like there is karma between you and the second king, since you have it on your list, I assume that you know what does the rainbow clover is supposed to do?”.
Aster nodded.
“According to the legend, the rainbow clover is a treasure that brings good luck and even saving your life once… as long as you don’t try to refine it, because if you do it then, it will bring bad fortune to the point where you could be struck by lightning on a sunny day”.
Orson laughed.
“Well, in the memories of the second king I saw, that he found one by pure luck, he didn’t know its purpose but since his plan of usurping the throne perfectly worked the same night he found it, he kept it as his lucky charm, even when he was exiled, I saw him using it in his robes all the time”.
“Maybe that’s why he wasn’t killed in the fight for power, and instead got exiled… if me or my subordinates find it then it’s yours, it’s the least I can do to show my gratitude for helping Luonto when it was needed, even if you didn’t have the obligation to do so”.
Before anyone could react, Orson stood from his seat and placed his right hand on his chest at the height where the heart is positioned.
“I Orson Millefiore swear with the heavens as witness, that if I ever get the rainbow clover I will hand it as soon as possible to Aster Drage, if I ever go against my words then may the heavens judge me as unworthy and punish me for the eternity!!!”.
…
All the members of the royal court were speechless, one thing was giving his word as the king, but using a soul oath to guarantee his promise was on another whole level, not only that but Orson didn’t limit his promise to the clover that was property of the second king, but that if he ever finds one, he will give it to Aster.
Sylas smiled, although he knew that Orson did the soul oath as a sign of goodwill which was understandable considering Luonto was in a situation where they needed a strong ally, he was still proud that the king wasn’t blinded by greed and instead he thought of the greater good.
Listening to their king, Milia, Leister and even Sylas, followed him and made the same oath, to be honest Sarina was surprised in a good way by what was happening, after listening the true story of the previous kings she started despising the Millefiore family, but it was also true that Orson was more or less raised by her father so he was quite different to the those who preceded him.
Leaving that little episode aside, it was time to go see the gatekeeper, but first Sarina went to her room to go look for Kana, once they returned Orson guided them to what looked like a storage room, all the court members took out their emblems of authority which combined with the ring in Orson’s hand opened a secret door in the floor.
Inside the door, a large stair could be seen going downwards into the depths of the earth, the torches that were mounted in the walls of the staircase suddenly lit on to show them what was lying ahead of them.
The king was the first one to enter followed by Milia and Leister, Sylas on the other hand took position in front of Sarina and Kana while Aster took the position behind them all, from that position he could perfectly see Alice, Sarina and Kana so in case something happened it would be easier to act in respond.
They kept descending for quite some time, the chamber seemed to be really further into the ground, at some point they reached a metal door which had five locks, each one corresponding to four of the members of the royal court and the king himself, Orson placed their tokens in their respective locks and the sound of rusted gears echoed through the place.
The door opened which allowed Aster what was inside of that room, there floor and walls were made out of stone, in general looked like a cave with the only exception that deep inside of it, there were another pair of doors but those ones looked more like the ones of a castle reaching nearly 20 meters tall.
And in front of that there was a bearded old man sitting in a little chair, that was the last member of the royal court, the gatekeeper Eret Kryll, Aster frowned his eyebrows, this day he has found quite a rare sight.
“This old man is a… half step mortal transcending realm cultivator”, he thought.
Those who fail to advance to the next cultivation division have two possible outcomes, getting stuck in their previous realm unless they find a treasure that allows them to try a breakthrough for a second time or most likely death, but on extremely rare cases there are people who manage to put a step into the next realm although their breakthrough fails and they are called, “half-step” cultivators.
In this case, the old man in front of Aster was stronger than a peak star tribulation cultivator, but there was still a big gap between him and a true mortal transcending realm like Ritz or the elder from the sand mountain sect.
Orson took the initiative to enter first followed by the others, once they were inside of the cave, the door closed and the king spoke.
“Senior Kryll, I believe you witnessed the current crisis we might be facing, so I will go straight to the point… using my authority as the twentieth king of Luonto, I order the gatekeeper to answer to my questions and if it is required, to open the door for the legacy left by the first king”.
…
The old man took a moment to “see” all the presents, well to be more accurate it was more like scanning them with his spirit sense, since his eyes were completely white, a sign that he was blind.
Eret’s gaze stopped on Sarina and Kana for a couple of seconds before he focused on the king again, contrary to what Aster expected, the old man ignored him and his sister.
“Orson, although this is the first time you have come to this place since you were given the crown, you should know that only the king and the members of the royal court are allowed to be here… those two girls who are family of the guardian of the border, shouldn’t have come”.
Sylas snorted.
“Stop with the “old and mighty” act, if it weren’t for the urgency of the situation, do you think I would have brought my daughter and granddaughter to see a creepy old sack of bones like you?”.
Eret sighed, “Sylas you might be the strongest on the surface, but this is my domain so I would suggest you to show some respect”.
The atmosphere suddenly tensed, Sylas has always had problems with authority, besides Leister who is a bit conservative, Eret is the most traditional among the members of the royal court, so the former king always had to step in so those two didn’t end up fighting on every meeting.
Aster voice interrupted the gaze contest that was taking place between Sylas and Eret.
“Leaving aside this “old friend reunion”, the fact that you glanced at Sarina and Kana, instead of me or my sister, tells me you know something we don’t, so how about you start speaking?”.
Eret frowned his eyebrows, previously the kid who was now talking to him, didn’t give off the same feeling that he was radiating right now, it was something hard to describe, when he scanned all the presents in the room Aster seemed to be fluctuating between being there and not, at first, he thought it was because his cultivation was so low that his senses didn’t properly detect him, but now he realized that was not the case.
“Who are you kid, I previously thought you were a relative of any of the other members of the court… but listening to your accent, you aren’t even a native of Luonto, right?”.
Orson interrupted to explain before things could get out of hand.
“Senior Eret, he is an ally that has come from outside of the wall that surrounds our galaxy, I can personally guarantee that he is worthy of trust”.
The gatekeeper contemplated things for a moment before asking.
“What do you want to know?”.
Orson smiled, they all took seat in front of the gatekeeper and the king started the conversation.
“I know the gatekeeper had a separate record, has the chamber ever been opened before?”.
Eret shook his head.
“No… the past gatekeeper, in other words my father told me that a couple of kings in the history have tried it before, but without the special key, even those who are beyond the star vertex realm can’t force the door to open”.
Sylas went straight to the point.
“Do you have any idea of what is inside there?”.
The gatekeeper sighed.
“Of course not, but in the records, it says that the legacy left behind by the first king, is something that has enough power to change the whole galaxy, that’s why the gatekeeper has the authority to ignore the orders of the king… when we accept the role of guarding it, we have to do a soul oath to never try to use it for our own benefit, the door must only be opened if the Riga continent has cornered us”.
Aster nodded.
“Who were the kings that tried to open the doors?”.
Eret doubted for a second but seeing Orson’s serious expression he finally answered.
“The second, sixth and… fifteen kings”.
Everyone could see the pattern, all those were kings that disappeared, and it was clearly related to whatever was inside of the chamber.
Sarina was now doubting if she should let her daughter stay behind, but the problem was that the capital hasn’t been cleared out of spies, so it could be dangerous to let her alone even if the barrier talisman was there to protect her.
Aster saw her worried expression and he placed his hand on her shoulder, although he didn’t say anything, Sarina felt reassured knowing that she was not alone anymore, she now had found someone that would protect her and her daughter from any harm, just like he has been doing since they met.
Alice was amused by their little exchange, “I perfectly recognize that gaze… welcome to the family I guess hahaha”, she thought.