An Audience
“Hmph! Count yourself lucky!” Stuart glared at Leylin with resentment and dissipated into wisps of soot.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Leylin neatened the creases in his shirt with an indecipherable straight face.
“Y–You…
“You managed to withstand an attack from Lord Stuart? But he’s a Radiant Moon Magus! Hold up, what did he say just now? Five Stars? You’ve reached Five Stars?” Boffel stammered and pointed a trembling finger at Leylin. Uncertainty brewed inside of him.
Leylin reaching five stars carried a great amount of significance. There were less than thirty Five Star Morning Stars in the entire central continent, and Leylin was one of them. He was someone at the peak!
Furthermore, being able to withstand a strike from a Radiant Moon? The more Boffel looked at Leylin, the more he thought that this fellow was a monstrous genius like Weyers.
‘You’ve found a rival, little Weyers.’ Boffel laughed bitterly in his mind before he walked forth. As he looked at Leylin, he felt helpless and lost.
“Let’s move quickly, we shouldn’t have His Majesty wait,” Leylin said considerately.
He already realised the intention behind Stuart’s behaviour. The man was obviously trying to catch him unprepared. The ideal situation was to be able to capture him directly, but if that failed he could always sow the seeds of mistrust between Leylin and the Monarch of the Skies. If those seeds were to sprout, Leylin would be done for.
Of course, Leylin was still patient about it all. Even though Stuart was already a dead man in his eyes, none of his thoughts surfaced on his expression.
“Oh! Indeed, we can’t let His Majesty wait!” Boffel seemed to have woken up from his daze.
After passing through the garden, they came upon a chain of fragile and complicated buildings that seamlessly formed a sort of circuit.
Green vines coiled snugly around the spotless marble pillars decoratively, but a thorough scan by the A.I. Chip showed that there were actually a huge number of spell circuits here.
“Circuit structure?” Leylin was slightly taken aback. “Could it be that of a perpetual motion disk?” He remembered coming across such a thing in the library.
“Right! This is it, rumoured to be able to move indefinitely without an energy source!
“The sages of the Sky City will join hands with the addition of you, my Lord, to perfect this hypothesis and create an energy source for the whole Drifting Garden.” Boffel continued.
“Sadly, this system is still quite a distance away from actual perpetual motion. As it is right now, it consumes 9826 magic crystals a month, and it’s also impossible to expand the system to use it for the entire city.”
“Still, it’s impressive enough that it can support the whole of the Drifting Garden for an entire month with just that amount of energy!” Admiration was painted all over Leylin’s face.
As for it being used for the entire city? If such a thing had succeeded, the entire continent would be filled with floating cities, and Sky City would definitely not be the only one.
Leylin held back his admiration and sauntered into the palace alone, leaving Boffel behind. He had actually wanted to bring Boffel along, but the person himself refused outrightly. This left him at a loss for words, but he was also astonished at the imposing presence of the Monarch of the Skies.
In front of him was a jade-built snow-white door, at least ten metres tall. It exuded a sense of divinity and dignity, and instantly led Leylin who was standing in front of it to think that he had arrived in a land of giants.
‘No traces of spells or restrictive measures?’ Leylin’s eyes flashed blue as he scanned past the gargantuan door and the enormous statue in front.
‘Can I not detect something set up by a Breaking Dawn yet? Or are such things no longer of any significance to the Monarch of the Skies?’ Leylin believed in it being the latter assumption, but he secretly hoped for it to be the former.
“But…” He stroked the white gloves in his hands, seemingly gaining strength from that action. He then took a deep breath before arriving in front of the door.
The door rumbled open upon sensing Leylin’s arrival and revealed the spacious site within, closing once more with a thud as he stepped in.
“This is...?” Despite being stunned for a bit, Leylin observed his surroundings, realising he was in a big hall. The two side walls were littered with countless paintings— mostly depicting scenes of war between Magi and other races, but also demons on occasion. The deeper in the hall one went, the more abstract the paintings, slowly turning into mere meaningless lines and streaks at the end.
Directly opposite Leylin was a huge statue; a human with six pairs of wings walking out of an enormous shell accompanied by horn-blowing angels and petal-throwing maidens.
The entirety of the statue was carved with such realism that it had an aura of life about it. This was especially true for its eyes that were made of black pearls. They seemed to move, focusing upon Leylin.
“Leylin Farlier!” A voice resonated within the hall.
“Huh?!” Leylin turned his head to the statue. Its eyes were pinned on Leylin, and it seemed to be smiling.
*Snap!* The statue moved all of a sudden, and walked out of the shell, ripping off the plaster on the wall.
The whole hall seemed to have come to life in tandem with the male statue’s descent, differentiating itself from the outside world and forming two distinct domains.
“Greetings, Your Majesty!” Leylin knew the identity of this person by now. The difference in their statuses was clear; even if this was only an embodiment of the Monarch of the Skies, he still had to show the utmost respect. Not only was his etiquette perfect, even his expression shouted out ‘humility’.
Leylin did not mind bowing down in front of someone he could not oppose at the moment. Furthermore, the Monarch of the Skies was a pioneer in the pursuit of truth, a good role model who deserved Leylin’s salutations.
“Leylin! You’re a fine lad! I apologise for Stuart’s rude actions!” A gentle voice sounded from the statue.
At the same time, Leylin was slightly taken aback by its sharp observation as he felt its gaze on his earrings and the two gloves.
“Is the purpose of your visit to enhance your vitality with the Endowing Scepter? If so, I can grant your wish directly!” the winged statue said unhurriedly.
Yet, Leylin had other plans in mind. “No, Your Majesty. Only a Virtuous Sky Sage can come into contact with the Endowing Scepter, that is a tradition of Sky City. I don’t wish to break this balance; I’ll obtain it through the proper channels, honourably!”
“...”
His reply was clearly unexpected; he felt a dignified yet hidden force scanning across his body. He didn’t show anything in his expression, but the A.I. Chip had already begun working its magic.
In the past, Leylin would have been worried about his secrets being revealed. But now, with the advancement of the A.I. Chip, if he could not manage to hoodwink the mere embodiment of a Monarch, he might as well give up on life.
The only things the statue found out were the things he wanted it to.
The force circulating on his body was retracted, and it was apparent that the Monarch of the Skies did not detect anything out of the ordinary.
“You’re good! Very good!” A voice sounded from the statue after a good while.
“Your Majesty! I am willing to offer you the coordinates of the Lava World!” Leylin took action immediately upon sensing the imminent departure of the statue and presented his long-awaited gift. A ring of shining coordinates flew to the side of the statue.
“Hmm?!” The twelve-winged statue did not accept it readily, but rather stared at Leylin, “Leylin, I believe you recognise the value of foreign worlds. The fact that you offered such a treasure means that you want something.”
“Your Majesty, I only wish for Sky City to remain neutral when conflict breaks out between the Ouroboros Clan and Jupiter’s Lightning,” Leylin replied humbly.
“To remain neutral?!” Leylin felt the statue’s gaze pause at his hands before it replied, “Alright!”
……
“My Lord! There is a Mister Leylin who wishes to see you!” A phantom reported in Weyers’ room.
“Leylin?” Weyers raised his petulant face, shock evident in his eyes, ‘Didn’t he go see His Majesty? Is he done already? And why did he come to me first?’
Even if he was taken aback, Weyers still managed to pass an order, “Invite h– no; I’ll go pick him up myself.”
Leylin did not beat around the bush when he entered the room, dropping the bomb directly. “Weyers, do you want to go up against Stuart?”
“Wh– What?” Weyers’ smile hardened, “Are you nuts? Why would I go against a Radiant Moon Magus of my own organisation?”
“Is that so? Then why do I feel like you’re someone who bears grudges? Moreover…” Leylin smiled and pointed a finger, causing a blue light screen to appear.
It showed two people in the midst of a conversation, one of them that sinister-looking old man, Stuart. His eyes were burning with hatred, “You lied to me! That Leylin was obviously a Five Star Warlock. I’ll have to sacrifice a lot more in order to go up against him. Zegna had better give me a remuneration I’ll be satisfied with!”
In front of him was a Morning Star engulfed in darkness, bowing his body and looking extremely humble,
“Lord Zegna said Lord Stuart has been a close friend of his for many years, and would definitely help him out. Also, our plan to pin the blame on Weyers almost succeeded, didn’t it?”
Weyers was appalled enough by Leylin’s Five Star status, but his expression turned even darker as he listened to the conversation.