Immortal Kingdoms

On that day, a shocking piece of news took the officials currently residing within Valdmor by surprise, then it buzzed in their heads like the knell of the devil.

In a courtyard designated for the House Sylvia in the core district of Valdmor, a chubby round man was running through the latest developments of recruiting foot soldiers across the Forbidden Domain, the estimated levels of power, budgets for funding the expansion efforts, and similar reports.

On the other end of the table was a long list of houses that decided to withdraw ground the investment and decided to invest with the elves instead. As to why these people would switch sides during these critical times, he didn't know.

There were also lists of powerful cultivators who joined the fray with their own representatives, tossing in their investments in this chaotic game of wealth and politics, giving this man quite the headache.

Knock! Knock! Bang!

The door to his study burst open as a young assistant rushed in, his appearance as though he had seen a ghost.

"Sir Jeffery! Big news! Big news!"

The assistant almost choked on the heavy air in the room, not knowing how long it has been since this sir Jeffery last left the room, let alone had a decent hygiene check.

Deep black rings circled Jeffery's red eyes as he looked up, mumbling, "When did you bring two of your twins over?"

Jeffery asked the 'three' assistants standing by the door, his voice dry and hoarse. Then, he reached over and placed a heavy bottle of wine and a transparent glass on the surface of his desk.

Then, with great difficulty did he open the wine bottle, fill up the cup, and directly shove the bottle's opening down his throat while ignoring the wine glass.

The assistant shook his head and slammed the report on Jeffery's table, feeling like this news might as well instantly flip this man sober.

Jeffery looked down from the corner of his eyes to see Tesla's trademark logo on the top corner of the first page, quickly dismissing the topic with a sigh.

"Tesla's is a trading company that specializes in the arts of natural cuisine, yes. They're big, ancient, and powerful, I know. Kid, we have more urgent matters to deal with than this, His Majesty is so obsessed with cultivation that he finds the path to becoming a Sovereign as his only chance."

Sigh…

Jeffery didn't say it, but he's worried that if house Sylvia couldn't win the right to succeed the Sovereign, the Sylvian King might simply go crazy. By then, perhaps not even Queen Adeline would be able to hold him back.

Just as he was about to shoo the assistant away, his communication bracelet that's connected directly with Queen Adeline flickered. In fact, it has been so long since she contacted him, he almost immediately turned off the receiving function.

He quickly focused what little of the consciousness that was left in him to check the contents of the Queen's message, and a moment later, he silently returned to drinking.

One mouthful.

Two mouthfuls.

Three mouthfuls.

Four- eh?!

Jeffery choked on the bottle, spitting out everything he had in his mouth before falling to the ground. Then, he got up, grabbed a lighter, and stung his fat hand with the steaming hot iron rims of the fire rings.

Clenching his teeth in pain, he quickly picked up the report on the table and cross-referenced the contents with his memory out of fear he misheard the Queen. Invigorated, Jeffery laughed like an idiot, almost breaking into tears.

"My good friend Leo! Haha! You've actually dragged Tesla's into these muddy waters as well! What an absolute devil, are you afraid that the situation wasn't chaotic enough already?! Haha!" Although this was technically bad news— terrible news even, Jeffery couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Inside though, he felt utterly disappointed that Queen Adeline couldn't hold firmly onto Leonardo, allowing him to find a patron in Tsela's instead.

Sigh…

"Guess I'll pay my old friend a visit and catch up," Jeffery took a sniff of his burnt hand and the powerful stench of alcohol wafting off his body, feeling awkward, "He has women and children by his side, I can't go like this…"

After muttering for a bit, Jeffery remembered that he had an assistant. "Kid, tell the maids that I want to be in a respectable and presentable shape within fifteen minutes! No wait, make them ten!"

…

Not everyone had as good a reaction to this piece of 'bad' news. However, patience is a virtue most businessmen enjoy, and other than shock and a bit of scorn, displeasure, and perhaps even fear; no one made any big moves.

Very quickly, some of these people who were involved in much deeper waters than the simple land lordship of an energy-rich land received word that Leonardo's only support on Arcadia would be his bit of connection to Tesla's.

The word 'only' was emphasized greatly in those reports, allowing some of the restless hearts to grow easy. Even though this is a political business war, without the sufficient martial might, a few documents of paper are useless.

Everyone is playing this game patiently, but everyone knows that to sit on the throne at the end of the day is one thing, and to actually keep that position after the game ended is another thing altogether.

Hence, no matter how smart Leonardo is, it's useless without the protection of at least one third-cycle saint in his ranks, and his strongest follower was reported to be a second-cycle elven saint, which is barely enough to keep up with this particular game.

Thus, after a quick dusky sky of unrest, the undercurrents return to an absolute calm throughout the streets of Valdmor.

This transformation from calmness to unrest and thereafter to calmness once again didn't escape the observation of a woman with multicolored hair who stood on the terrace of an ordinary inn, situated in the outer regions of Valdmor.

Leonardo always had the feeling that he might come back to Valdmor, so he went ahead and paid the owner of this inn enough gold and silver to keep it reserved for five years. Natural, he wouldn't accept the accommodations arranged by Ingrid as he didn't want the lurk-in vultures to decipher his relationship with the organization.

"Teacher is actually so smart when he decides to think instead of straight up killing people," Wendy muttered softly, talking to no other than the silver fox who also rested on the railings of the terrace with the fluffy tail swaying around.

"It's not his choice when to communicate with words and when to communicate with blood. In this world, the greater the disparity in power and influence, the less meaning there is to communicating using words. However, the power and influence in this context is quite the intriguing, ambiguous term."

"Power, first and foremost is your personal might. Second, your connections. Third, your wealth… These parameters are what ultimately decides whether communicating with words will suffice or not," Aria paused for a moment. Then, she snorted with a tone of disgust, "Of course, this is a world of cultivation, and although everyone can sit and talk things out, no matter how eloquent your mouth is, your fist would always be the most straightforward."

Wendy remained silent for a moment before asking in a low voice, "Then, since the teacher is already so powerful in terms of both personal strength and connections, why isn't he directly suppressing everyone?"

Aria's closed eyes slowly parted open, an ominous crimson glint flashing by, "Because people are disgusting hypocrites who would rather keep their knives in their sleeves, and wait patiently to test the absolute bottom line of someone's power. Your teacher wants to draw out their hands to see who is carrying a bouquet of flowers, and who is hiding their jagged knives."

After a slight pause, Aria said, "Then blood can naturally flow like rivers, and he wouldn't feel so bad, wouldn't feel so guilty, and wouldn't involve the innocent indiscriminately."

Just as the two's conversation arrived at this part, Aria spotted Jeffery in the distance.

Looking from Jeffery who was practically bouncing in happiness and then back at a particular room with multiple sound isolation barriers enveloping it, Aria actually felt a bit of schadenfreude.