Everybody: “…”
Ikarys frowned; however, he still maintained an extremely gentle and elegant attitude: “Hahahaha… then hopefully, when you encounter danger, you can run fast enough.”
“Besides… I also hope you don’t hinder me from doing my work; otherwise, I will kill you.”
“Don’t worry.” Arine suddenly spoke: “I will protect him. After all, he is my friend; I will not ignore him.”
“Oy! Since when have I been your friend?” Lathel asked puzzledly.
“Heh?! Aren’t we still friends?” Arine frowned.
“Hahahaha…” Dorothy laughed loudly: “Do you want to get to know my second brother? Dream on!”
“I’m not your second brother either.”
“Huhuhu… Why did you say that?”
Lathel: “…”
Lathel felt tired. He didn’t think that things would gradually become more complicated.
Ikarys clenched his fists, not knowing what to say or what to do. Everyone seemed to only pay attention to Lathel, not remembering how artistically Ikarys had just flexed.
He immediately clasped his hands towards Catheryne, frowned, and said: “Empress, please throw this trash out; I feel he will get in my way and cause trouble for me when I carry out my mission.”
“People like that are not worthy to be geniuses, nor are they worthy to appear in front of a beautiful and majestic empress like you.”
Catheryne stared at Lathel, her eyes carrying a kind of aura that made people kneel.
Everyone here saw this and sighed, feeling that Lathel was too stupid and unlucky. He dared to say such nonsense in front of Empress Catheryne, so they felt that he would at least be beaten to the point where he was disabled and, at worst, be beheaded.
Arine also sensed something strange in the atmosphere and stood in front of Lathel. She then spoke using a demure tone: “Empress, Lathel is an honest person; I hope that you can forgive him.”
“Holy Maiden, what do you mean?” Ikarys said angrily; however, he still maintained a calm appearance: “You have protected him many times; do you want to oppose me?”
The Holy Maiden bit her lip, and her eyes were wet as if she were about to cry.
“Ack!” Ikarys was startled. He didn’t think that after just saying a few words, the Holy Maiden would cry.
“He’s like my old friend. Next to him, I feel like my friend is still alive.” The Holy Maiden was in pain as she spoke: “I protect him just like I protect the remaining memories of my friend, isn’t that okay?”
“This…” Ikarys stammered.
“Besides… we are the representatives of the Lumiere Church; we must always remember what our faith is, which is love, right?”
“That’s right… but…”
“Then why do you continuously corner this poor young man, endangering him?”
“He…”
“No matter what he is, he still deserves to receive God’s love, right?”
“But…”
“You don’t give love to everyone; on the contrary, you make people lose solidarity, making them feel afraid and have to leave the mission. Holy Son, I’m the one who should be asking what you’re doing.”
“I…” Ikarys was confused, and he thought: Am I in the wrong?
“Silence!” Catheryne spoke up, her voice carrying terrifying magic that made the entire surrounding space tremble violently.
Everyone immediately fell silent, looking at Catheryne with somewhat confused expressions. Lathel was different; he frowned at everyone because he didn’t realise what the hell was going on.
It seemed that the magic waves that Catheryne emitted had no effect on him.
“Lathel, you are very interesting.”
Hearing Catheryne speak, everyone became even more silent. Ikarys tilted his head and his face as if he were wondering if he had heard wrongly.
“A lot of people are afraid of this Genius Congress because it is related to the Demon Lord’s seal. However, a person with a mood like yours is precious.”
“Don’t worry, don’t be afraid, don’t be arrogant, and don’t carry the mentality that you will face death. When you are in a comfortable mood, you will easily overcome all challenges.”
Ikarys: “…”
‘Why do I get the feeling that Catheryne is favouring Lathel?’
Lathel was also silent at this time; he was only joking, but in the end, Catheryne took his words seriously and found them very interesting.
Is this world crazy?
“This…” Lathel stammered: “Empress, I just…”
“Don’t worry, I certainly won’t let someone like you die easily.” As Catheryne finished speaking, she reached out her hand.
A red spark appeared on her palm. That spark quickly flew towards Lathel and rushed into his chest, then disappeared.
While Lathel could not understand what was happening, Catheryne explained: “It will save you when you are in danger.”
Ikarys: “…”
He quickly said: “Empress, I… I have never seen the Demon Lord’s seal, but this time I want to visit that place a bit.”
“Nonsense, bullshit!” Catheryne suddenly shouted, startling Ikarys: “You are the Holy Son; your every word and action represents the Church.”
“This conference is very important; it is related to the existence of all races on this continent, yet you have the attitude of someone who is just visiting.”
“Do you think that is worthy of your position as Holy Son? Are you worthy of what the church expects of you?”
Ikarys: “…”
At this moment, Ikarys wanted to cry. He had used the same words as Lathel, but he was scolded to the point that fire radiating from Catheryne almost burned his hair.
“Okay, if no one else leaves, then… all of you must participate in the next round.” Catheryne frowned and said.
“In this round, there is only one goal, which is to find the Demon Lord’s seal in the Dungeon, then place this thing in the seal.”
Catheryne said as she waved her hand, and then, in front of each person, a white stone appeared with a strange magic formation carved on it.
“On your quest to reach your ultimate goal, the Demon Lord’s seal, you will have to experience countless dangers. Of course, the chance of you dying is very high.”
“Besides, once you enter the Dungeon, no one will be able to save you unless you complete the quest.”
“The most important thing is that if you cannot complete the mission, then… all of you cannot leave that place.”
Hearing that, everyone was startled. They looked at each other, then looked at the Queen with faces full of worry and fear.
“If you leave now, there’s still time.”
At this time, the people present began to sigh, thinking more carefully about what was about to happen.
“Sorry Queen. I feel I am not qualified to participate in this geniuscongress. The elf woman placed the stone on the ground, then left.
After that, other people also started saying sorry and leaving. Anyway, that’s easy to understand. If they are still alive, 10 years later they will still have the opportunity to participate in the next Genius Congress if they satisfy the age conditions.
Even if they cannot continue to participate in the next Genius Congress, they still have a chance to live. Like the first young man who left said, as long as he’s alive, he can continue to be a genius.
If they die, all their dreams and pride will disappear, and the world will no longer remember them. At that time, whether they were geniuses or not was meaningless.
This trip had a 90% chance of failing. Even if they hadn’t entered the Dungeon, where the Demon Lord’s seal was, they already knew how dangerous that place was.
Watching everyone begin to leave apart from Lathel’s group, Catheryne sighed and asked: “Have you thought carefully?”
Lathel looked around; now only he, Dorothy, Doran, Ikarys, Arine, and Iritellis remained. There were six people in total. No, including Alec, there’s a total of seven people.
Ikarys now wanted to save some face for himself, so he immediately spoke up: “Of course I have thought carefully. For humanity, for this continent, even if I jump into the lava lake, I will do it.”
Catheryne shook her head: “It’s easy to say, difficult to do. I hope you can complete this mission.”
“You should remember that after entering the Dungeon, no one can interfere with what happens inside. You can only rely on yourself to survive.”
“If you don’t complete the quest, you cannot escape the Dungeon. You can’t run away, and no one can save you, understand?”
“Empress.” Ikarys suddenly spoke up: “If I’m still here, that means I guarantee I can complete this mission.”
“For humanity, for this continent, I am willing to sacrifice myself.”
Ikarys tried to emphasise the latter sentence, as he wanted to show his will to make Catheryne pay attention to him.
However, Alec stood behind, looking towards Lathel and Ikarys, smiling fiercely and secretly laughing loudly: ‘Only you can’t escape that place. As for me, it’s different, because… the demon Lord is my ally, hahahaha…’
Catheryne looked towards Ikarys and Lathel, then continued: “Because the nature of this mission is very difficult, if you complete the mission, in addition to the regular rewards of the Genius Congress, there’s another reward.”
“Besides, the person who strengthens the Demon Lord’s seal will receive another special reward. I hope… you won’t disappoint me.”
This chaptr is updatd by (f)reewb(n)ovl.com