Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

While technically it was Celestina who was head of the South-East Territory’s government, a job she had competently and capably handled for the past two centuries, everyone knew that the one really running day-to-day operations was Great Elder Pauline.

Celestina’s talents had always been skewed towards martial pursuits and military strategy rather than administrative and financial affairs.

Fortunately for the Marquess, although she had tragically lost both her first daughter and second son in the last war, her third daughter Pauline had fought through and survived it, emerging on the other side as a woman whose political instincts were as accurate and deadly as her marksmanship.

Pauline having a talent for archery wasn’t too surprising, but where the girl got her knack for handling paperwork and navigating noble circles was a mystery that still baffled Celestina to this day; after all, dealing with such things had never been her strong suit, nor that of her late husband.

Still, Celestina wasn’t exactly complaining; who would complain about their heir being too competent?

As for why Eris hadn’t met her illustrious grandaunt yet, that was because Pauline had recently been in seclusion attempting to break through to the Mid-Rank Spirit Adept Realm.

Judging by the pressure and slightly unstable aura fluctuations coming from the Great Elder’s body, it seemed she had succeeded.

Normally, such a breakthrough would be cause for celebration, but from the serious looks on everyone’s faces, Eris knew that they hadn’t been gathered here tonight to congratulate her grandaunt.

Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, Eris swallowed back what she was going to say and simply performed a polite bow before walking over to her Junior Sister and having a seat, quietly whispering to her, "What’s going on, Tina?"

Unfortunately, Christina was just in the dark about this whole situation as Eris was.

Recently, Tina had sensed that many of the adults around her were acting a bit unusual, like they were constantly tense or on alert, but every time she asked someone about it, they would brush her off with excuses like they were in a rush, or were sore from training, or even that they didn’t get a good rest last night.

The clear dodging of her questions was an even more obvious sign that something was up, and it definitely wasn’t something small, but with no one willing to say anything, Christina found herself at a loss.

Had this been a few months ago, she may have gotten frustrated or impatient and tried to force the issue, but Christina had basically outgrown such an entitled mentality by now.

If the adults didn’t want to tell her what was happening, it either meant that it wasn’t important, wasn’t necessary for her to know, or that the subject was too sensitive to speak about in the open.

Whatever the case, Christina figured that if it somehow became relevant for her to be looped into the situation, she would be. All she had to do was wait.

Now, it seemed, her patience was about to pay off.

There was one thing that was strange, however.

One thing that seemed out of place in this room full of the Balfour March’s top leaders.

"Where’s Lucas?" Eris asked, obviously wondering about the exact same thing Christina was.

In both of the girls’ opinions, serious talks about complicated issues involving high-level leaders was what their Senior Brother specialized in. The two of them may attend these kinds of meetings and could even participate a bit on the margins, but their contributions were minimal at best compared to Lucas who frequently called, organized, and chaired such discussions.

Simply put, if anyone from their generation was supposed to be here right now, it would definitely be Lucas.

Unless, of course, this meeting was somehow about him or something he had done wrong...

With the same thought hitting both of them at once, Christina and Eris couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.

Lucas was incredibly smart and incredibly competent, but he had a bad tendency to lose track of his surroundings when he became immersed in his work, often leading to unexpected consequences.

Normally, these consequences only negatively affected Lucas himself, like him becoming sleep deprived or missing meals, but every now and then, he would also cause something to break, something to spill, something to catch on fire, and recently, even something to blow up!

What if, unbeknownst to them, Lucas had done something terribly wrong and caused a huge amount of damage; or worse, cost someone their life?

What if this meeting was being held to discuss what kind of punishment to give the Marquess’ errant First Disciple?

It was a terrifying thought indeed!

Of course, while Eris and Christina sometimes had wild imaginations, they weren’t really thinking that Lucas had done something bad enough to require a late-night gathering of the most important people in the Balfour March.

Still, with how unfathomable their Senior Brother’s minds could be at times, and with him proposing wild and radical ideas to seemingly re-shape how the very world worked every few days, they couldn’t just dismiss this possibility altogether.

Perhaps it was only natural for them to be this sensitive whenever it came to Lucas, he was, after all, their precious little brother, their competent Senior Brother, and if they were being completely and utterly honest, perhaps they were hoping that one day he would be something even more...

Even a remote possibility that he might be in trouble, or had caused some problem he couldn’t afford to take responsibility for, was thus extremely destressing.

Fortunately for the girls, before their thoughts could really begin to spiral, their nearby Master quietly explained, "Lucas will be a bit late, he’s in the middle of... something important."

"Oh," Eris nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

Christina also felt a slight weight lift from her shoulders hearing this.

As was said before, Lucas not being present at a gathering like this one was definitely unusual, but him being buried in some project and unable to get away despite it being the middle of the night was nothing new.

Feeling relieved now, Eris couldn’t stop herself from pouting, "That darn boy! He just can’t stop himself!"

"En en," Christina nodded in agreement, adding her own complains to the mix, "He’s always running around doing something crazy, never relaxing for even a moment! He should really think about how much he’s worrying his Junior Sisters!"