After I had been done with my business of looking at the ceiling of the arctic titan and had finally calmed my thoughts, I explained to the rest of the group what we needed to do. Information of all the trials, what I would get from them, and an estimate of how long it would take me to do them.
I also informed them that they would be able to go to Earth whenever they wanted, courtesy of me, of course. Since I was a spatial mage, trips to Earth or Gigantia were possible whenever we ran low on supplies or needed to refresh our minds.
They were not obligated to participate in these trials of mine, I would appreciate the help…but how much would they be able to help? Only Kazikato and Alexander would be somewhat useful, I don’t want to involve Sabrina in anything dangerous, and Olivia, Alice, and Maxwell are…well useless.
“Hey, why do I feel like you’re thinking something bad about me?”
Alice scratched her ears and pouted.
‘Can everyone read my thoughts, or something?’
I thought, looking at her with newfound admiration. I handed over the crystal Lanesha gave me over to Maxwell, and told him how to use it.
“So we go wherever this thing leads us to, huh, Alright.”
He placed the crystal down on the table after examining it for a bit, and glanced at the box that had the ichor of Suleras.
“Don’t look at it, keep that thing somewhere isolated from everyone else.”
I warned him, although only Alexander, his wolf, and Kazikato were able to feel the chaos mana it exuded, I didn’t want anyone else to have any ideas, influenced by it or not.
“Sure, no problem.”
Maxwell took a seat on the table, and suddenly smiled, I didn’t like that smile of his.
“Alright! Now that you have explained what the purpose of coming here is, I think I need to ask some questions.”
Without even giving anyone else a chance to say anything, he continued.
“I think everyone here, well except for Olivia since she isn’t in the guild, has a right to hear this…”
With that sentence, everyone’s attention was drawn to him, even Kazikato’s. Maxwell’s eyes were shining, and he moved his shoulders in a weird fashion, as if he was excited to ask…
“So, how great is our backing?”
“…..?”
I didn’t quite understand what he meant, and I don’t think anyone else did as well, Alex and Kazikato had the same face as me…
Maxwell, looking at the reactions of everyone, explained.
“Sorry, I should have rephrased it better. Alan, the purpose of you coming here, with us, is so you can prove yourself to your house…Shivalkulan, right? In order to get some treasures and whatnot.”
I nodded, and waited for him to continue.
“So, we know what we have to accomplish here, but are in the dark everywhere else. Like, How does the Empire of the Dragon’s function? How many planets are in their control? 10? 20? What is their inner workings and some information about your house, so I can explo- use them to our advantage if things go rough.”
And to that… I had no idea how to respond.
How was I supposed to know how the empire functioned? I knew the names and appearances of some of the major dragons involved, some of the houses, however I did not know anything about how many worlds we controlled…I guess I could say something about House Shivalkulan though…?
But before I could say anything, to my and everyone’s shock. Someone else explained things very…well. Surprisingly. The last person I had expected to bother speaking actually knew more than me!
“Uhh, I can answer that. Grandma told me that there were like five major houses in the empire, we control about sixty percent of the universe if we don’t count the abyssal realms and the celestial realm… Uhh… We have about… How many planets was it?”
Everyone, except for Festul, was shocked to see Kazikato out of everyone else explaining things. Whilst everyone else was still stupefied, only Maxwell encouraged him to go on, a wild thirst visible in his eyes…and with how he was salivating…
“I think it’s about a few thousand planets, Most of them aren’t habitable, and only a few have places where species under us actually live and exist. Though Grandma did say those places could be turned into habitable planets easily if the population demanded it… Umm, there is a dragon king, a queen, a prince, and whatever else an empire has. We have our own home world… I forgot the name though…”
“Kazikato, how the hell do you know all of this?”
Before he could continue any further, I stopped him, completely shocked due to how much he knew. I needed some answers too!
“Grandma forced me to memorize a lot of stuff when I was with her… It was fun! Though I forgot a lot of stuff.”
“She really does dot on you too much…”
“Ahem! NO further interruptions, Kazikato, continue, please.”
Maxwell stopped me from interfering with fire in his eyes, but when he looked at Kazikato, they were as gentle as the sea breeze.
“What else do you want to know?”
“I think about your house, Shivalkulan. Please give us an introduction.”
“Umm, Grandma is the head of the house, although she spends most of her time sleeping… Uncle Valus and Aunty Lanesha are the ones that manage most of the stuff, I think. I don’t know about what Uncle Kulak does though, all of them are supreme beings…”
The glow in Maxwell’s eyes only seemed to grow, but despite what the actions of his body might betray, he never interrupted Kazikato and only focused on what he had to say.
“We are also called the house of death, We have about…500 or so planets within our control, although only 20 of them are where species loyal to us live. I think about 10 are agricultural planets, 5 are for minerals, and the rest are housing planets.”
“Yes, yes, and what about the species loyal to you? How many are there, and what are their names?”
To that, Kazikato thought for a while until answering.
“I don’t know, there were way too many when Grandma explained the stuff to me, I think the Dark Elves are the main one though…along with Frost Elves, Dark dwarves…and others I don’t
know about…”
Everyone was startled at all the information… especially when it came from Kazikato out of
all the people.
The very next thing I knew, Maxwell appeared in front of me with a speed akin to my teleports. He began to massage my shoulders, with as much strength as he could manage, and
stared at me with eyes I was afraid of…
“So, my dear prince of death…”