Two hours ago.
The sun s.h.i.+nes beautifully at noon on Qia, the favorite medium world of Light G.o.d, the home of angels, the most loyal army of the G.o.ds.
Meanwhile, inside a large white castle, several angels with gray wings walk towards a big gray throne.
"My general." A middle-aged angel kneels in front of a tall young angel with the brightest wings in the room, sitting on the throne. He appears to be between seventeen and eighteen.
The young angel has an extremely arrogant and proud posture. He extends a hand to the middle-aged angel, but not to shake his hand.
The middle-aged angel feels that the young angel's behavior is not worthy of a general, but he cannot do anything about it and kisses the back of his hand.
"May the G.o.ds bless you, my loyal servant." The young angel speaks pretentiously.
All the other angels in that throne room have a bad taste in their mouths as they see a young man bless an elder. But they also can do nothing but exalt the new general.
The middle-aged angel pushes all his pride to the bottom of his soul and offers a small slight rusty box to the young angel. "Please, my general, accept my humble gift."
The young angel looks at the small box and makes an expression of dissatisfaction. "A little small, I must say."
The middle-aged angel is very offended because they used half of all his resources to get that gift, and the young angel is looking down at it just for the size of the box. It is evident that the young angel is nothing more than a spoiled child who was born in a golden cradle and knows nothing about the world.
"..." The atmosphere becomes tense when the young angel refuses to take the small box, and the middle-aged angel remains on his knees offering the gift.
Many angels in the room begin to fear the worst, but then a middle-aged woman with solid gray wings approaches the throne and quickly takes the box from the middle-aged angel's hand.
The young angel makes a curious expression, and the woman quickly explains. "Don't look at the box, Lord Antonius is a 'cla.s.sic' person, but I never saw him give a gift that wasn't incredible."
Lord Antonius maintains the same expression but looks quickly into that woman's eyes, and she understands that he is really grateful.
Still, the young angel remains skeptical about the box, and the woman quickly opens it for him without thinking twice. The smartest people in the room can clearly see that she already knew what was in the box, but that is because she is a very careful person.
The young angel is surprised as the woman opens the box and the glow of Its interior reflects in his black eyes. He sees thirteen bright multi-colored tiny b.a.l.l.s inside the box.
He can see that those b.a.l.l.s look really precious, but he doesn't have the slightest idea of what they are. His confused expression generates laughter in most of the other angels in the room, but everyone keeps the same neutral expression because they don't want to lose their heads.
[Why did it have to be him?!?!] The woman feels like crying, but her job is still to serve the general of that castle, and she cannot complain.
She smiles at the young angel. "Oh, look, these instant teleport gems are a really good gift, aren't they?"
It is evident to everyone there that the woman explained to the young angel what the gems are in the box in a subtle way, but he still acts as if he knows everything in advance.
"Of course they are. There was no way a colonel as respected as Lord Antonius would give me a bad gift, right?" The young angel speaks with an arrogant expression, leaving many angels around even in disgust.
The woman has a hard time restraining the d.e.s.i.r.e to hit the young angel in the face, but she just smiles. "Yes, my general."
The young angel takes the box and starts to play with the beautiful colored gems, which also makes everyone around upset because those little b.a.l.l.s are priceless treasures and not toys.
"Who's next?" The young angel speaks while looking at the line of lords waiting to give him a gift.
The woman nods respectfully to Lord Antonius, and the middle-aged angel bows to the young angel again before stepping back.
Another angel prepares to kneel in front of the throne, but at that moment, another young angel appears and quickly approaches the woman to whispers something in her ear.
As everyone in the room was silent and making slow movements, that young servant's action catches everyone's attention, and the young angel on the throne makes an upset expression.
"Who's interrupting my first conference as the new general of this castle?!" He asks in a dissatisfied tone.
The woman quickly begins to explain while using a hand to push her young a.s.sistant back. "This is an urgent matter; we need to speak in private, my general."
"Just tell me what it is, Melitta. I will not stop this conference for no reason." The young angel responds with a bored expression.
Without an option, Melitta starts to explain. "We lost contact with two exploration groups."
The young angel shrugs. "Isn't that common? I mean, they are always exploring dangerous places and going beyond the unknown, so it is normal to find dangers that they cannot overcome, right?"
Melitta cannot contain her concerned expression, which leaves all the other angels in the room also concerned. "But the problem is that we lost contact with them while they were in an inferior world and its moon."
"Pfff." The young angel scoffs. "They were pretty weak then."
"It is normal to have conflicts with other strong races when there are crystal mines in inferior worlds..." Melita starts to speak but pauses before speaking in a lower tone. "Their last report was to feel the presence of a new mine of life crystals in that world."
The young angel shrugs again. "Just send more exploration groups, ones that are more capable."
Melitta approaches the throne while speaking in an even lower tone. "This is not so simple, Agapius. Those groups were on a special mission looking for a specific mine of life crystals."
"What the f.u.c.k are you talking about? Also, call me general!!" Agapius scolds Melitta.
She steps back, bends over, and apologizes before speaking respectfully. "This is really complicated, my general. We are talking about THAT life crystal mine."
Lord Antonius, as well as other angels in the room, make different expressions while they don't know what to think as they hear about something they thought was just a legend.
"Explain!" But Agapius still doesn't understand and questions Melitta.
She realizes that taking care of the new general will be the most difficult job of her life. "Many years ago, Lady Alexa Cra.s.sus came to the emperor with a story about cursed swords sisters. She said that those weapons could give great power to our people, and the emperor let her stop her business as a marshal and focus on finding those weapons, which are supposed to be hidden in a new mine of life crystals in some unknown world."
Agapius makes a mocking expression. "What a stupid idea! Everyone knows that cursed weapons cannot be controlled. Also, everyone knows that Alexa is crazy."
Melitta, as well as the other angels in the room, make a worried expression when they hear Agapius speak like that of one of the four marshals of the Angel race. The boy seems to want to find death before his twenties.
She speaks respectfully. "My general... Lady Alexa is a really incredible person. She did things that no one else could do. The other three marshals respect her very much, and even the emperor doesn't want to offend her."
"..." Agapius is silent because Alexa's reputation is really undeniable. Still, he doesn't like her.
Melitta realizes that and advises him. "The Corvus house has always been an ally of the Cra.s.sius house, my general. Your uncle was a dear friend of Lady Alexa."
Agapius is silent again, but in his mind, he mocks his uncle. [The useless old man died without an heir... but that's a good thing because now I've become a general of the Corvus house.]
"Just let that woman know about it then," Agapius speaks.
But Melitta shakes her head again. "It's still not that simple."
"Oh, come one!! What's the problem?!" Agapius looks really upset.
But Melitta continues to advise him because no one wants to see Alexa's fury. "My general, our houses were really united to the point that it was normal for your uncle to be always exchanging gifts with Lady Alexa. Many years ago, she took one of the servants of this house as her personal a.s.sistant, further improving the bonds between our families."
"And what?" He asks in an impatient tone.
She continues to explain. "The child was very happy to join Lady Alexa's famous a.s.sistants and always worked hard to satisfy her new master. But she continued to visit our home and her family here, especially her sister and brother, good servants of our home."
"That a.s.sistant started doing missions with her siblings for our house and the Cra.s.sus house, but as everyone knows, Lady Alexa is overprotective with her servants, and even generals fear to offend them and suffer her fury." Melitta continues.
As Melitta explains, the other angels in the room start to sweat with fear, and even Agapius realizes something is wrong.
She pauses for a second before continuing. "A year ago, that a.s.sistant named June joined her siblings Neoc and Amara to look for that mine of life crystals. Alexa said that June was not ready yet, but your uncle a.s.sured that Neoc and his soldiers could protect June..."
"..." Lord Antonius starts to feel sick while other angels around tremble with fear. They can't help but think that the Corvus house is ruined.
For the first time in his life, Agapius looks concerned. "T-that girl... s-she was in the group that d-disappeared, doesn't she?"
Melitta nods with a worried expression. "Yes, my general."
*BAM*
Agapius punches the arm of the throne. "Alexa will want my head because of my uncle's mistake!!"
"Actually..." Melitta looks hesitant but still speaks. "A few days ago, when your uncle died, I suggested that you bring those groups back because I always feared something would happen to Alexa's a.s.sistant."
Agapius looks at Melitta furiously. "And why was that not done?!!?"
"My general..." Melita kneels as she shakes. "Y-you s-s-spoke... you sp... that..."
"What??!?! Say it now!!" He yells.
"You said: f.u.c.k that b.i.t.c.h and her a.s.sistants. The exploration groups must keep looking until they find treasures for me!" Melitta speaks.
"..." The throne room is silent while everyone is sure that Agapius is screwed. There is no way he can deny anything after everyone sees that he does not respect Lady Alexa, the most feared angel ever.
"What should we do now?!" Agapius gets up off the throne and shakes Melitta's shoulders, begging for a way out.
A part of Melitta wants to let everything burn and see Agapius suffer Alexa's wrath, but she vowed to serve and protect the Corvus house, so she quickly thinks of the best solution.
"We have to send troops to that world right now. In the best case, we can find June alive, punish who attacked them, and find the crystal mine that Lady Alexa is looking for." Melitta explains.
"Yes..." Agapius feels hope.
"But we have to send strong troops right now. It would be best to lead them yourself..." Melitta says in a hesitant tone.
"Me?!" Agapius aks with an expression of denial.
"Think about it, my general..." Melitta tries to persuade him. "If you save Lady Alexa's a.s.sistant and still give her the mine she wants so badly, she will certainly be grateful to you. And with her support plus the good relations.h.i.+p that our families have, I'm sure she can help you become a marshal before your twenties. You would be the younger Marshal of angels ever!"
Agapius can already see the G.o.ds coming to give him the t.i.tle of Marshal personally. But then he remembers that the exploration group had problems in an inferior world, which means that other medium or even superior races are involved in it.
"We will send hundreds of troops, so there is no need for me to go in person." He responds.
Melitta sighs. "As you wish, my general. But as the matter is really urgent, we need to send powerful troops as quickly as possible, and as normal portals take several days to work..."
She looks at the box of s.h.i.+ny gems on the throne, and Agapius feels pain in his heart as he has to use his new toys just when he got them.
He takes five gems and gives them to Melitta. "Send five good colonels upfront."
She makes a sorry expression. "Lady Alexa loves her personal a.s.sistants as her blood-related family..."
"d.a.m.n !! Okay!!!" Agapius complains but gives the whole box of teleport gems to Melitta.
Melitta takes the box and bows to Agapius. "Thank you, my general. As a last request, I ask that you let me lead the group of colonels ahead so that we can quickly find and punish those who attacked the Corvus house's angels."
Agapius nods. "Go! Just solve it quickly. I can't wait to become a marshal... the youngest ever."
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