Chapter 508: Parents and Children
"Couldn’t they just be unaware of things?" Timothy asked, "I mean, it’s not like all the youths from our country know what our leaders are doing."
"If it was just one of them who hadn’t noticed anything, I’d agree with you, but 10 of them?" Lucas shook his head, "One of them would definitely have realized something unusual was happening."
"Also," Lucas quickly followed up, "They all mentioned coming to Gateway City for military training. I doubt the Darr Kingdom would send so many of its inexperienced young leaders directly to the front-lines if a war was going to break out anytime soon."
"That’s not all you learned, right?" Allina asked, though her words were more a statement than a question.
"Naturally," Lucas shrugged, "but after confirming we weren’t going to immediately be attacked, I shifted the conversation to the economic and political situation in the Darr Kingdom to avoid raising suspicions. Most of the intelligence I collected about that isn’t relevant to our immediate discussion."
"Fair enough," Allina nodded, not doubting Lucas’ words before turning to Celestina, "What about you, General? Did you learn anything from your conversations with Princess Talia?"
"From her? Not really," Celestina waved her hand, "That girl knows how to navigate in political and noble circles. I had no hopes of extracting anything she didn’t want us to know already tonight."
"That being said," Celestina knit her brow, "the proposal she made right before dessert was... interesting."
"The joint military operation?" Marianne, who had also been part of that conversation, frowned, "That’s a tricky issue."
"Indeed," Allina sighed, "Up until now, our biggest suspect was the Darr Kingdom, but if what Princess Talia said was true, their side has suffered just as many, if not more attacks than us."
"En," Celestina nodded, "given the circumstances, we couldn’t refuse to cooperate, even though doing so would likely expose the state of our military readiness."
"The same goes for them," Lucas argued, "this might even be an opportunity. If our forces can demonstrate a high level of competency and strength, perhaps we can stave off this war entirely."
"That’s not possible," Celestina flatly denied, "The war is inevitable, and both sides know it."
"Why do you say that, Master?" Eris, who while enjoying fighting found the idea of going to war disgusting, asked curiously.
"Because when I spoke to King Darian Darr earlier today, he said as much," Celestina abruptly announced.
"Wha..." Everyone at the table gawked, not quite sure what to make of Celestina’s explosive confession.
"That giant bear was here? In Misty City?" Marianne, who while not having fought Darian before had heard stories about him from many who had, could barely believe her ears.
"So that’s where you disappeared to," Lucas muttered, finally understanding why his Master, after announcing that Talia and her entourage were her guests, had abruptly ran off.
"En," Celestina nodded, "Back when... back when Reisha was still living in Gateway City, Darian would frequently come out to visit her, and each time he did, he would also come pester me."
"About what?" Eris asked, tilting her head curiously.
Everyone else was also interested in learning about this previously undisclosed part of Celestina’s past, especially her children and her old friends.
"He wanted me to marry him and defect to the Darr Kingdom," Celestina replied in a perfectly nonchalant manner.
Jaws dropped once more when the crowd heard this.
Looking around and seeing the dumbfounded looks on everyone’s faces, Celestina just laughed and shook her head, "Don’t think too much about it. Although fighting is definitely what he likes most, feasting and chasing women come a close second. He’s been trying to get me to be his wife since the first time I kicked his ass on the battlefield 200 years ago."
It took a while, but ultimately someone managed to recover from this incredible story.
Elizabeth Carlson was one of Celestina’s oldest friends, so she was well aware of just how many men had tried to get the latter into their bed, so while it was shocking that the current king of the Darr Kingdom was among those suiters, it wasn’t all that surprising after she thought about it.
What was more surprising was that despite all these proposals, some made from even more powerful men than Darian, Celestina had steadfastly refused.
As far as Elizabeth knew, Celestina had only ever been together with her late husband.
Actually, there was one other man she seemed interested in, Elizabeth mused to herself for a moment before shaking off this irrelevant thought and getting the discussion started back up again, "While that’s all... fascinating, how did you know King Darr would be here in person?"
"I didn’t," Celestina shrugged, "But I suspected he might have tagged along after I saw Talia. He’s an extremely hands-off type of ruler, preferring to run off and leave all the cumbersome administrative work to his subordinates."
"Just like you, Master," Lucas commented jokingly, only to wind up decked out on the grass in the next instant.
No one showed him any pity, not even his Junior Sisters or his Aunt Sasha.
While her First Disciple lay twitching and unconscious on the ground, Celestina continued on as if nothing had happened, "Even back before the last war, Darian openly entering out kingdom would be a big problem; so, instead of coming through the front gates, he would accompany Reisha part-way whenever she crossed the Misty Bridge, then sneak off and wait atop a certain watchtower while she finished her business in the city."
"So, when Talia appeared, you went to check that watchtower, and King Darian was waiting there for you?" Allina asked, her brow twitching slightly as she tried to process the fact that a Peak-Rank Martial Adept had been so casually sneaking past her carefully arranged defence perimeter.
Noticing the look on her adjutant’s face, Celestina just chuckled, "Don’t worry about it, there’s nothing Darian hates more than assassins, he would never become one. If he wanted to attack the city, he’d do so head-on while pounding his chest and shouting a war-cry."
"That doesn’t make me feel any better," Allina muttered.
Samuel, who was sitting next to Allina, nodded in agreement, "We need to increase our patrols and boost the average strength of the guards to prevent such incidents from happening aga... wait, why didn’t any of the alarms go off?"
"Are you seriously asking why a bunch of Vein Opening soldiers weren’t able to sound the alarm with a Peak Martial Adept as their opponent?" Marianne asked flatly.
In response, Samuel bluntly stated, "That’s their duty."
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Marianne wasn’t sure she liked what Celestina’s son was implying; however, before she could retort, Allina cut in, "Please don’t mind him, Your Majesty. He isn’t blaming those soldiers, just stating a fact."
Samuel nodded, his expression not changing in the slightest.
Raising an eyebrow, Marianne glanced back and forth between Celestina and Samuel a few times before shrugging, "Alright, just so long as you aren’t planning on punishing those soldiers. This wasn’t their fault."
"Of course," Samuel waved his hand, "I simply want to evaluate the situation objectively so I can find ways to improve upon our security measures."
Marianne was tempted to make a comment about how this young man was nothing like his mother, but she was hardly one to talk.
She had 6 children with her husband, and while they all got a mix of her and Nathanial’s looks, personality wise they were much closer to Natasha and Cynthia than her with none of them the slightest bit interested in becoming warriors. Instead, they all preferred engaging in business or state-craft.
How that happened, Marianne would probably never figure out; after all, right from young, she had personally drilled them rigorously in the art of war, forging them into hardened Cultivators who were unmatched both on the battlefield and in the strategy room.
Early morning drills to build strength, training programs to condition their bodies, strict diets to provide appropriate nutrition, live sparring exercises with both beasts and masters...
Okay, maybe they ended up not wanting to become warriors because of me, Marianne quietly thought to herself, though she would never admit that out loud.
The point was, when it came to children not taking after their parents, Marianne had no right to judge others.