Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Let her in" a coarse voice of that an old man sounded from inside the room. The guard that was standing by the door, pushed it open allowing her and Alvara to walk in.

A wide room with numerous bookshelves came into view. An old man with white hair and beard, sat at the table in the corner of the room. He wore tailored white clothes embroidered with crimson linings and donned a black long coat on top.

His face had many wrinkles, brows like two sharp swords and his eyes carried the might and presence of a king. The man was none other than the King of this Kingdom of Ellesmere.  A wide map of the Kingdom, was hung on the wall behind him.

The old man wore spectacles and was looking at the parchment of paper in his hand. After Cynthia and Alvara entered, they chose to quietly sit on the sofa placed in the centre of the room.

SIGH… the king sighed putting the parchment down and walked towards the set of sofas placed to receive any guests coming to his study.

"Father"

"Your Majesty"

Cynthia and Alvara addressed.

The old man who was the king and also the father of Cynthia nodded and glanced deeply at her before closing his eyes. Though he did not say it out, but he was relieved to see his only daughter return safe and sound.

"Father is your health alright? Are you still taking your medicines properly?" Cynthia asked in concern after looking at the thinning figure of the old man. While it is true that she had not received any familial love since young from her sibling and others, she at least knew that her father was the only one who truly cared for her.

However, he was king of a kingdom, he did not have much time on his hands to look after all of his children and thus the relationship between them never grew any closer.

Though that may be true, the man sitting in front of her was still her father and seeing his depleting health, how could she not feel pain. Despite her cold and business-driven exterior, she only holds the best interest for her father and this kingdom at heart.

That is why she still cannot get over the suspicions that her father might be poisoned. Although all the doctors and alchemists failed to detect any poison on his body, Cynthia still firmly believed that was the case. Or else how could her father's body which was already above level 500, be so frail and weak?

On an average, a person's lifespan increases with the increase in their level. It is especially so when they cross a high threshold like her father where their powers multiply manifold. Essentially a person who has broken through level 500, has peeked into the mysteries of mana and has reached a realm where it would not be unusual for their life expectancy to go up by hundreds of years.

That is to say, her father who was only above two hundred years of age, shouldn't be reaching the limit of his lifespan. Although she was suspicious, there were too many suspects and no evidence.

"Haha, you don't have to be so concerned my daughter. Even though my illness has suddenly flared a few days ago, Doctor Norm has diagnosed me already and given me medicines. He said that it's because of the old injuries that I have accumulated on the battlefield, taking its effect now. He is not wrong, I had indeed left those injuries unattended thinking that they would heal on their own".

Her father reminisced leaning back. He then waved his hands shifting the topic from his waning health to something else.

"Hmm… Cynthia for you to have directly come to my study after just arriving, you must have met Cyrus. Did he inform you about anything?" the king inquired, his eyes deceiving his body were filled with power and authority.

Cynthia shook her head and replied with only a few words stating that he had only told her to stay careful.

The king nodded and muttered, "He…sigh. It cannot be helped, he is a brother and extremely loyal to me after all. It is understandable where he is coming from".

Cynthia saw her father crease his forehead in worry before getting up from his seat.

"The reason I called you here is because I have been informed that our neighbouring kingdoms, the Kingdom of Blackthorn and the Ingolf Kingdom are also attending the event and have requested the headquarters of Adventurer's Association to make an exception this time and allow their young geniuses to register for the tournament too" her father walked back towards his study table and passed her, who was following behind, the parchment.

Cynthia carefully read the contents of the letter which was addressed to the head branch of their Adventurer's Association, more accurately, the branch president.

According to the letter, the kingdom of Blackthorn and Ingolf want to hold a joint cooperation by making the tournament that their kingdom of Ellesmere holds every decade, an international event.

According to them, doing so would increase the cooperation and peace between nations. They petition for the 'battle of the finest' tournament to also include young geniuses from their kingdom.

"Those foxes, they are clearly after the reward that the Adventurer's association has prepared for this event. Peace and cooperation are all nonsense, a façade they are using to get themselves involved in this tournament" The King mocked looking at the wide map on the ceiling.

The Kingdom of Blackthorn and Ingolf were their neighbouring nations with a geography of more or less as big as them.

"Has this petition been accepted?" Cynthia asked creasing her delicate brows.

The reward that person from Adventurer's association had prepared for them, was for their kingdom. No matter whose hands it fell onto as long as that person was the inhabitant of their kingdom, it would be their nation who would get stronger in the end.

However, all of it will become moot if this petition were to be accepted.

Her father did not answer her and simply sighed, from his behaviour, it was plainly obvious that the petition was already passed and accepted.

"What is father thinking? Wouldn't everything be alright if we are the ones who win the tournament?" Cynthia thought over it before suggesting.

Alvara who was standing behind the princess, also nodded. Even if it was the Kingdom of Blackthorn and Ingolf participating in this tournament, it was not like their kingdom had any lack of talents to compete with them.

With the participation of their prodigal third prince, they had a strong possibility of winning no matter who the other kingdoms or the guilds brought forward.

The King, Henry Alaric Ellesmere sat on his seat and said in a somewhat unsure tone "Things wouldn't look that bad if it was only those two neighbouring kingdoms; however, from the information that I have received, there would be some guests arriving from the Sanguine Empire too. I can only put all of my hopes onto your third brother".

"What?" those words immediately caused the two listeners to widen their eyes. 

Unlike their kingdom and the two others who were just bottom tier kingdoms in this vast Central Continent, Sanguine Empire was a genuine powerhouse and a middle-tier empire at that. In terms of military power, they were dozens of times more powerful than them.

'Did the allure of the first place reward also attract the attention of the Sanguine Empire?' Cynthia thought internally, even she wasn't privy to the information related to the reward for this year's tournament other than her father who seemed unwilling to disclose it.

Although she knew it was not an ordinary item, even she didn't expect it to be so grand as to attract the attention of the surrounding kingdoms. They cannot lose the reward to them at all costs.

"Royal father, I have not seen the third brother around, is he not in the palace?" Cynthia inquired.

King Henry supported his chin with his hands and nodded "He is currently training inside the Chamber of Guidance and is yet to come out. I have currently restricted anyone from approaching near the area and have placed guards just in case".

The Chamber of Guidance was a special space left behind by their ancestor who was a Ranker and their founder to train the future genius of their family. It is a room engraved with many complicated runes and arrays to draw in the surrounding mystical energy to achieve a special effect that helps one to train.

Most of the things related to the Chamber of Guidance was a tightly kept secret and Cynthia only knew that the room had an extremely beneficial effect in training one's skill and level. Since the array and the mystical effect need a lot of time to restore, the room was last opened more than 30 years ago and only the future kings of the kingdom had the right to enter it.

However, it could be seen from how important the upcoming event was for the royal family to even open the chamber of guidance for the third prince, a change that had never ben done before since the establishment of their kingdom.

She nodded her head and only excused herself after she saw her father busying himself with his work. After they got out of the king's study room, Cynthia directly headed for her palace.

"Order all the leaders of the shadow guards to assemble in the guild by today also ask the silver guards to remain cautious for these past few weeks".

Cynthia directed after they reached a moon-white palace that was the symbol of her merchant guild. Alvara bowed and left her side to perform her orders. The situation was so that it needed her immediate action.

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