Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

When the number came out, many people felt as if they had just been stabbed through the chest.

Although there was no official census, so it was difficult to tell exactly how many lives had been lost since the start of this crisis, using the best analysis methods available, it was estimated that nearly 62,000 citizens of the Rockwell Kingdom had been killed over the past 24 days.

Most of these people had fallen in the first 3 days after the great explosion when their villages or towns, which were located close to the Great Western Forest, were overrun by Wild Beasts.

To put that into context, only about 6 million people lived in the Rockwell Kingdom to begin with, which meant nearly 1% of the nation’s entire population had perished in just 72 hours as a result of this disaster.

It was a sobering number which sucked any sense of joy or accomplishment out of the meeting room.

Closing the black book where he kept records of all the losses they had suffered, Lucas knit his brow and said, ”There’s nothing we can do for those we have already lost except honour their memories and try to carry on. The living, on the other hand, still need our help, so we’ll have to leave mourning the dead for later.”

The young boy’s words drew reluctant nods from everyone in the room before many of them got up and filed out, heading back to their respective workplaces.

After all, as Lucas had said, the living still needed them.

.....

Audrey Carlson had been incredibly excited to meet her idol, Celestina Balfour. She had even gone so far as to rehearse what she was going to say when they finally came face-to-face.

All through the meeting, which she had been allowed to attend as Tina and Eris’ guest, Audrey had been in a somewhat jubilant mood, listening to all the amazing things that had been accomplished by her new friends as well as the important people gathered together in the hall.

However, after listening to the dreadful news Lucas announced at the very end, Audrey’s mood plummeted.

As the young, talented granddaughter of a Count, Audrey hadn’t experienced any kind of real hardship in life and she was also fortunate enough to have not lost anyone close to her yet, so she had a bit of a hard time contextualizing the deaths of 62,000 people.

It was such a large number that Audrey had trouble even wrapping her head around it, but when she recalled that the population of Iron Rock, the city where she had lived almost her entire life, was about 60,000 people as well, it all suddenly clicked in her head.

Imagining what it would be like if everyone in Iron Rock had suddenly just died, a sense of dread and despair washed over Audrey, one that instantly consumed all her thoughts.

It wasn’t until her two new friends, Christina and Eris, grabbed her hands, that Audrey woke from her daze to find a layer of cold sweat had appeared on her forehead. She also noticed that she was shivering slightly, despite it being quite warm inside the crowded meeting room.

”How...” Audrey started somewhat hesitantly, shifting her eyes between Tina and Eris, ”How are you two still so calm?”

Scratching her head, Eris flashed a helpless smile and replied, ”We already knew how bad it was, so...”

”So, it’s not as shocking to us,” Christina followed up, her expression turning a bit gloomy, ”That doesn’t mean we’re not upset about it. A lot of people we knew are among those 62,000...”

”Tsss...” Audrey drew a sharp breath before lowering her head, ”I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have...”

”It’s alright,” Eris comforted hastily, ”It’s.... it’s alright...”

Silence fell over the 3 girls for a moment, each of them seemingly lost in thought; however, when Christina felt a light tap on her shoulder and looked up, she hurriedly composed herself and got to her feet, ”Greetings, Master.”

Eris followed suit in the next instant, with Audrey reacting last as she nervously bowed, ”Greetings, Marquess Balfour.”

Nodding to the trio before her, Celestina said in a calm tone, ”I think you all understand the pressure Lucas has been under these past few days a bit better now.”

Hearing this statement, each of the girls lowered their heads in acknowledgement.

All of them had been helping out, doing everything they could to be useful, but compared to Lucas, they felt their contributions had been quite pitiful.

Celestina didn’t try to comfort them either, or persuade them otherwise, as what they were feeling was accurate. She wasn’t one to sugar-coat things as she felt that the sooner one faced hardship and recognized their own deficiencies, the sooner they could grow and overcome them.

Still, Celestina was also fair and knew that anyone in the younger generation trying to compete with Lucas when it came to planning and executing complex, large-scale operations was destined to finish a very distant second.

As such, she simply reached out and patted the heads of her two female Disciples and encouraged them, ”If you don’t want to keep feeling like this, like you’re just dragging your Senior Brother down, work hard to improve yourselves. Just like there are things Lucas can do that you can’t, there are plenty of things you can accomplish that he will struggle to achieve.”

Pursing their lips, both Christina and Eris nodded firmly, a fire of determination flickering in the depths of their eyes.

Finally, turning to the one girl she had yet to formally meet, Celestina smiled lightly, ”You must be Audrey. Elizabeth’s little grand daughter.”

Stiffening up, Audrey bowed deeply once again, ”Yes, Lady Balfour.”

Technically, Elizabeth Carlson was Audrey’s great, great, granddaughter, separated by 4 whole generations, but trying to keep such things straight in families with powerful Cultivators often became a huge headache, so casually referring to someone several generations apart from you as a granddaughter or grandson was common.

If an individual was a stickler for rules, they might use the terms ’descendant’ or ’ancestor’, but Celestina had never been one for such formalities, preferring to use the colloquial terminology as it made life easier for her.

In any case, after briefly examining the young girl before her, Celestina nodded lightly in approval, ”You have potential, Little Audrey. Since you are friends with my Disciples, if you have anything you’d like to ask me, feel free to do so while I’m still in Iron Rock.”

”Wha... bu... ah... um...” Audrey was, needless to say, flustered, flabbergasted, and extremely flattered to have been acknowledged by her long-time idol, so much so that all the manners and etiquette lessons which had been drilled into her evaporated right out of her head.

It was only after Christina gently elbowed her that Audrey snapped out of her daze and, for the third time in less than 5 minutes, bowed to the woman before her, ”T-Thank you very much, Marquess Balfour! It’s an honour!”

Finding the young girls behaviour endearing, Celestina also gave Audrey a head-pat before turning to her Disciples, ”Alright, you three run along now. There’s much to be done still.”

”””Yes, Master/Marquess Balfour!”””

.....

After watching the 3 young girls leave the meeting hall, along with almost all the other leaders and managers who had also been present, Celestina walked to the front of the room where Lucas, Allina, and the two highest members of the Carlson Family were waiting for her.

”Marquess Balfour,” Mathias Carlson saluted formally, ”First, allow me to thank you personally for all the efforts you, your army, and your House have contributed to the safety and security of the Carlson County and the South-West Province.”

Waving her hand casually, Celestina simple stated, ”There’s no need for thanks. I am simply doing my duty as a noble and General of the Kingdom.”

”There’s no need to act humble here, Celestina,” Supreme Elder Elizabeth Carlson laughed lightly, ”We all know just how much this is costing you and the Balfour Family.”

Her expression suddenly turning solemn, Elizabeth bowed her head, ”My condolences on the loss of your soldiers.”

Shaking her head, Celestina declared without any change in her expression, ”They were also doing their duty, and they will be honoured appropriately.”

After a brief moment of silence out of respect for the fallen, Elizabeth asked the question she had been wanting to this entire time, ”So, are you finally going to tell us what exactly is happening in the south?”

”No,” Celestina replied bluntly.

Raising his brow slightly, Count Carlson inquired, ”If that is the case, why did you request we stay behind after the meeting, Lady Balfour?”

”To inform you both that I will be requesting a summit be held in the Royal Capital a month from now, where I hope all the heads of the noble houses from the kingdom at the Count-rank and above will be in attendance,” Celestina answered in a flat manner, ”At that conference, together with the Royal Council, I will share what I know about this crisis’ origins, and its potential fallout.”

Solemn looks appeared on both Mathias and Elizabeth’s faces when they heard this.

It was very rare for a summit of this nature to be held in the Rockwell Kingdom. Most of the time, if a noble had business with the Royal Council, they would simply have their representative in the capital bring it up at one of the regular council meetings which occurred every month.

Only when a matter of critical national importance was to be discussed would a special summit be called.

However, considering how much damage had already been done, it wasn’t surprising for Celestina to request such a conference.

Elizabeth and Mathias also knew that the answers they were hoping to get would only be revealed at this meeting, so they naturally planned to attend.

Glancing over at the youngest member of this group discussion, however, Count Carlson couldn’t help asking, ”And what is your First Disciple’s role to be in this upcoming summit?”

Resting her hand on Lucas’ shoulder, Celestina explained, ”As the one most familiar with what is happening in the south, as well as the one most knowledgeable about the phenomenon surrounding it, Lucas will be the one putting together the report which I will be presenting a month from now.”

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Celestina spoke with a hint of warning in her tone, ”As such, I expect he will continue to be treated appropriately from now until then, and will not be questioned or probed for any kind of sensitive information. Do I make myself clear?”

Exchanging a glance, the Carlsons understood they had been caught. They also understood what Celestina was trying to say, so they simply nodded, deciding to shelve their curiosity for the moment instead of trying to subtly extract clues from Lucas as they had been for the past few days.