As a servant turned into the corridor from which Kellor had just left, he was shocked to find that this location was much hotter than where he had come from.
Walking forward with astonishment to find out the reason for this strange phenomena, he chanced upon the scene of two women staring at each other without blinking their eyes.
A third woman, who was holding a piece of parchment in her eyes, was looking at each of them with a confused expression on her face.
The temperature was already boiling, and it only proceeded to get hotter as he walked forward. After walking within 20 steps of them, he finally couldn't take it anymore and stepped back.
Yet, he had managed to see that he knew one of the women. She was actually Eloise, a normal human just like him.
If he couldn't endure the temperature this far away, then how was she standing so close to the source without flinching?!
Indeed, Eloise's skin was burning, but she refused to break eye contact with this woman from whom she sensed a tangible threat.
She had no idea that she herself was in possession of such strong willpower.
All she knew was that looking away first would be a sign of weakness.
Meanwhile, Sister Xuan was also questioning herself as to just why she had become so…unsettled on hearing that this was someone who worked closely for the man whom she had just met.
As someone who had grown up in with a traumatic childhood, she had been sheltered and pampered ever since. Yet, her interactions were limited for the most part to Molan and the Matron.
As for the others who tried to interact with her, she always only felt aversion as she felt that they never truly understood her. After all, very few would know the feeling of growing up as someone associated with evil.
Yet, when she had seen the history of this King, she had managed to draw a parallel. He had grown up without any friends, marginalized from society because of the brand that was placed on his family. Yet, he had struggled by himself and changed his own fate along with that of so many others'.
She had thought that she only felt admiration at this achievement, yet now, she wondered if it was something else.
"SISTER XUAN!"
The scream from Molan woke her up from her thoughts. As the elementary particles that had been unconsciously controlled by her Mageroot went back to normal, the temperature at their location started to drop.
Molan had been right beside her, so she had been startled by the shout and turned around. Now, as she turned back to look at the woman, she saw an accomplished smile on her face as if she had won something.
She, the most talented individual of one of the Big 4 had actually….lost?
As this thought came into her mind, she saw the triumphant eyes of the woman lose focus as she collapsed into her arms.
Bewildered, she touched the woman's skin to find out that it was actually blistering hot. Even her breathing was growing unsteady, and it looked like she would lose her life soon.
"I shouted after noticing that she was being affected. She's clearly just a normal human."
As Molan bent down beside her and said these words, Sister Xuan nodded before making a chain appear on her chest.
At the place where the pendant was supposed to be, there was a heart-shaped glass vial which she unstoppered without any hesitation.
"But Sister, the Matron gave you that to use it in dire situations! Forgive me if I'm being insensitive, but we can't was-"
"It is not a waste, Molan. If this woman dies because I wasn't able to control my emotions, I will never be able to live with myself. Besides, she did nothing wrong. Unlike what others in the Big 4 may think, we have no right to go where we wish and kill whomever we want. Now, step aside."
Hearing the strong tone of Sister Xuan, Molan hesitantly nodded before standing and moving away.
After she did so, Sister Xuan carefully extracted a drop of the golden liquid that was present inside and fed it into Eloise's mouth.
A human body was simply incapable of handling a sudden change in temperature. Her breathing which had been shallow had slowly been becoming even slower. Even if Sister Xuan cast a recovery spell, it wouldn't have been enough to save her life.
Instead, it would only have wasted precious time.
Taking a deep breath, she watched as the golden drop slid into Eloise's mouth from her lips.
"Haaaaah!"
With a loud gasp, her eyes flew open as she started to breathe rapidly. Her skin glowed a faint golden color, and a transformation seemed to be occurring under her skin.
Raising her with a levitation spell, Sister Xuan said to Molan, "Let's get to our room. She needs proper care. Can you decipher the way?"
As Molan nodded, Sister Xuan glanced at Eloise to make sure that she was doing all right before walking forward.
Never had she expected that she would end up using a sect-saving treasure to save a mortal with no potential.
And never had she expected that something so silly would be the reason behind this situation occurring in the first place.
Wondering about how she would explain this to King Daneel who was currently still in the Black Raven Kingdom, she followed Molan while her brows furrowed with an expression of deep concentration.
...
Meanwhile, in the Black Raven Kingdom.
Daneel, disguised as Master Novrain, was currently standing looking out of a window while holding a communication trinket in his hand.
Through it, he was receiving the news from the various spies that Lanthanor had placed around the continent.
Throughout the history of Angaria, no matter which Kingdom tried to annex the forces of the Central Continent to form an Empire, they would be ruined without any doubt.
Either by internal struggle or due to the other forces ganging up on them, they would be destroyed and their assets would be swallowed up by the other forces.
Hence, for centuries, none of the forces had even tried to ally too strongly with another with the fear that it might be a step towards their doom.
Right now, Daneel was in a very precarious situation.
It was known to everyone in the continent that he was the closest friend of Faxul, who had just ascended the throne of the Black Raven Kingdom. Although he had said that he had severed ties with Daneel, there was no way that anyone would believe that.
Just as he had thought, none of the forces had believed it even for a second.
Yet, what was puzzling was that none of them had taken any decisions to curb the possibility of the Black Raven Kingdom and the Lanthanor Kingdom uniting.
After all, it was quite possible that everything was a plan by Daneel to obtain control of both Kingdoms(which was actually true). This meant that such a target would be ripe for picking if the others all united together to attack them.
Of course, this was already out of the question because Eldinor was also in his hands. Still, Daneel had no intention of leaving everything to luck.
Hence, he had kept his eyes peeled for information about the other forces reaction.
If they really did have hostile intentions, the only option he had was to stage some sort of falling out between them.
Yet, to make it believable, many sacrifices might have to be made which Daneel did not wish to do if there was any other way.
Now, seeing that the reaction was much lesser than he had imagined, he realized that it might be because the information of the Church's incoming attack might be known at least by the rulers.
Of course, if there was a possibility of being raided by a large organization soon, then no force would choose to wound their own strength by going to war.
Hence, Daneel found that he was in possession of an unprecedented opportunity. One where he might be able to accomplish something that hadn't been seen in centuries.
He needed to increase the Kingdom Statistics and obtain EXP as quickly as possible. And for this, he needed development.
The best sort of development came from collaboration. If everyone knew that they were united anyway, why not make it public and take the chance that the others might stay subdued?
After all, if he stayed as a puppeteer behind the scenes, there were only a few ways in which he could hasten Lanthanor's development.
Hence, walking back to his bed, he sat down before starting to think about how he could make this happen.
The two Kingdoms had to unite, but there had to be no hostilities between the people. So, the fact that the soldiers of the Black Raven Kingdom had died on Lanthanor's soil had to be resolved somehow.
As an idea came into Daneel's mind, his face lighted up into a brilliant smile as he quickly made his way to Faxul's chamber.