Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Was it all just a coincidence?

Possibly, but Celestina couldn’t afford to take that chance.

With a long sigh, Celestina turned to her granddaughter and shook her head, ”I’m sorry Sasha, but Lucas is right.”

Sasha opened her mouth to object, but ultimately closed it again, lowering her head slightly as she simply asked, ”Why?”

Pursing her lips, Celestina quickly weighed her options before addressing Audrey, ”Young lady, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?”

Audrey frowned, but nodded, knowing that this wasn’t really a request but an order.

Once Audrey was gone, and the kitchen doors were sealed shut, Celestina swept the surroundings with her Soul Sense to ensure no on was listening in on them before explaining to Sasha and Elizabeth about the developing situation with the Darr Kingdom.

Supreme Elder Elizabeth, who had been present when the Royal Ancestor made the seemingly off-handed comment about the Darr Kingdom’s increase purchases of military supplies wasn’t too surprised by this news. She basically already knew this was coming, but it still disturbed her to think that another war brewing considering all she had lost in the last one.

Sasha, on the other hand, was completely taken aback by the possibility that the kingdom may soon be engaged in a bloody conflict with its neighbour to the east, and that the mysterious criminal organization which was targeting orphanages may somehow be involved, but this new knowledge only further reinforced her belief that Eris shouldn’t get involved.

Celestina was Eris’ Master while Sasha was her mother, so who had more right to decide what was best for the girl was debatable.

Technically, with Celestina being the Balfour Matriarch, she had the final and ultimate say in all matters involving the family, but Celestina had always despised using such authority to order her descendants around.

As for Eris’ opinion, it carried some weight with both Celestina and Sasha, but not enough to really sway their opinions either way.

Just as it seemed they had reached an impasse, Lucas spoke up, ”There may be a way to greatly reduce the risks Eris will have to face.”

All eyes immediately turned to the young boy, urging him to explain.

After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts completely, Lucas began, ”Our primary goal is to gather information about the Bellamy and the organization behind him without raising suspicions. In order to do that, we’ll need someone strong, stealthy, and skilled at tracking.”

”Obviously... and?” Celestina prodded.

”Well, as far as I know, the one who best suits that description would be Lady Frey,” Lucas made a rather unexpected suggestion.

”That’s...” Celestina started, then stopped to frown and mull over the idea, ”Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

”Indeed,” Elizabeth nodded, ”If we’re talking purely about tracking abilities, no human master from the Rockwell Kingdom would even come close to Lady Frey.”

”But, won’t having a giant Snow Spirit Fox wandering around next to Eris be even more suspicious than just sending in the Balfour Family Guard?” Sasha wondered.

Make no mistake, if Lady Frey were to stick by Eris’ side, Sasha would feel greatly reassured; after all, as a Mid-Rank Sixth Order Spirit Beast, Frey was pretty much one of the 5 strongest beings in the entire South-East Province.

Even if things were far worse than she feared, and the enemy had Complete Peak-Rank Initiates working for them inside the kingdom, there was still no way they would be able to hurt Eris with Frey protecting her.

However, just as she said, Frey couldn’t exactly be described as ’inconspicuous’.

”That’s why we don’t try to hide her at all, we act openly,” Lucas declared, a familiar cunning grin soon creeping onto his face, ”In fact, if we do this right, not only will we be able to implement all of Big Sister Eris’ ideas and more, we’ll be able to send as many masters as we want into all parts of the city without raising any suspicions.”

.....

It took another hour or so for Lucas to fully explain his plan, but by the time he was done, everyone had agreed to implement it.

Even Sasha, who was still somewhat reluctant to let her baby girl face such dangers, had eventually relented under the persuasion of everyone else at the table.

Eris would need to be openly accompanied by at least one powerful Spirit Initiate Realm bodyguard at all times while she was carrying out her role in all this, but that was hardly an unacceptable condition. In fact, everyone felt that was the bare minimum level of protection she would need.

”I will also quietly look into the situation in the orphanages in the South-West Province,” Elizabeth Carlson declared, her brow knitting tightly, ”If some shady organization or foreign power has really infiltrated the kingdom, with all the chaos it’s experiencing, the South-West lands will definitely become their focus.”

Supreme Elder Elizabeth very much hoped her analysis here was wrong, but hope wasn’t a strategy.

As for reporting the matter to the Drax Family and letting them handle it... hah, what a joke.

Earl Drax and his ilk might be the ones responsible for governing the South-West Province, but they were probably the least competent, least concerned provincial rulers in the entire kingdom. Leaving such an important issue to them was just asking for it to be tossed aside and ignored.

”Actually, Senior Elizabeth, I was hoping you would remain here in Misty City,” Lucas cut in once more and made an unexpected request.

”Oh? Why so, Young Master Lucas?” Elizabeth asked, curious what this strange little boy who was always full of surprises wanted now.

Rather than answering her directly, however, Lucas turned to Celestina and said solemnly, ”Project Ascension.”

Celestina frowned deeply at those words, her eyes shifting between her First Disciple and her old friend a few times before she asked, ”Are you sure about this, Lucas? I trust Elizabeth’s character, but isn’t it a bit too soon to be exposing the project, and yourself for that matter?”

Shaking his head, Lucas sighed, ”The situation has changed. With the possibility of war breaking out in the next few years, we need to accelerate our timetable.”

Pursing her lips, Celestina sank into contemplation.

As for the others in the room, they all looked on in confusion, none of them quite understanding what these two were discussing.

Of course, as Lucas and Celestina argued back and forth, Sasha, Christina, and even Eris soon picked up on what they were talking about. It was something each of them was quite familiar with but they had all thought it had been set aside temporarily.

Apparently, however, that wasn’t the case.

In the end, Lucas managed to convince his Master, with Celestina ultimately nodding, ”I was hoping it would be someone from the Balfour Family who would be spearheading this project, so we could maintain exclusive access to it for a bit longer, but you’re right, no one meets the appropriate criteria right now. At least, not as well as Elizabeth does.”