"Miss Helen, can you tell us why the Lionrock doesn't have a City Lord?" Aditya was very curious about her answer.
"The Previous City Lord of the Lionrock City fled with his army when a Beast-kin clan attacked the city. He did not even put up a fight. He just ran away with his army."
"Seriously....!!!!"
"What a spineless man!!!"
Riya and Sasha commented.
"Do you know why the city Lord fled with this army and didn't put up a fight to defend his city?" Julia asked in Aditya's place.
"I truly have no idea. But what I do know is, that City Lord fled with a ton of gold coins. He took so many gold coins from the city that since then the Lionrock City hasn't been able to recover from this loss."
"Since the City Lord just fled instead of fighting, the Beast-kin clan that attacked the Lionrock city robbed everyone in the city and took all the gold coins with them. This whole event changed the whole city forever. Many rich merchants had become beggars because, within a single day, they lost all of their money. It was after this event that the crime rate in the city spiked. Gangs started appearing all over the city."
"And the worst thing was every few months, the city would be attacked by one or multiple Beast-kin clans. Instead of taking over the whole city what they would do is rob everything valuable in their sights and leave the city."
"Just one and half months back, the Lion-kin clan attacked the Lionrock City. None of the four gangs put up a fight to defend their territories. They just simply went into hiding. This allowed the Beast-kin clan to loot value items and gold coins to their heart's content."
"In the end, the ones who suffer the most from these regular attacks are the normal people who do not have the power to defend themselves."
Once the Beast-kin clan left, the four gangs would come out of their hiding and continue ruling their territories as if nothing happened. These gangs did not care whether a family had been robbed or not. They would still charge the same amount of tax and expect the tax to be paid in time otherwise the family members are very badly beaten. In some scenarios, the female members of the family are forced to work as Maids.
Helen could only imagine how much these females are sexually harassed by the gangs.
In this entire situation, Helen was completely powerless. She neither had the military power to take action nor had the influence to stop this mess.
This entire situation was one big cycle. This cycle is only getting stronger and bigger with each rotation. The four gangs were growing powerful and becoming more and more courageous every single day.
Helen feared that it wouldn't be long before one of the gangs tried to take her little territory away from her as well. When that happens Helen won't be able to protect her little home.
Helen was left with no options. She and her husband were even thinking of moving back to the Celestial Terrain. However, when she met the Goddess of Nature Halen had a change of heart. Perhaps the goddess would be able to use her powers and open a new door of possibilities for them.
"There is also another situation," Lilith spoke.
"While I was dealing with some annoying flies around the city, I saw many people whose faces looked extremely pale. These people looked really tired. It was as if someone had sucked vitality out of their bodies. They had the same symptoms that the cursed people of the Savannahclaw City had."
"My Lady, I meant to ask you for help on this matter. Please help me out." Helen had almost forgotten about this issue if not for Lilith reminding her.
"Helen, since when did this curse start spreading?" Aditya asked. Perhaps her answer would be able to give them a clue as to what was responsible for spreading this curse. Maybe they would be able to find the culprit behind this all.
"The curse began spreading around almost two months back. Even before the invasion from the Lion-kin clan, the curse already had started spreading."
"I see." Aditya nodded his head after understanding the whole situation. He had to say Helen was really in a messed-up situation.
'And given that I can sense another soft Mana presence in her stomach means that Helen is pregnant.' Aditya thought to himself.
"Miss Helen, I could offer you a long-term solution. Do you like to hear me out?" Aditya asked after thinking for a few seconds.
Helen nodded her head. "First thing, we can start by declaring that the Lionrock city and the territories around it would be under the control of the Istarin Empire." Hearing this Helen was surprised.
"If you agree to serve me then you will become the City Lord of this city. The Istarin Empire will provide you with the resources and the military power to rebuild this entire city. At the same time, the Empire will provide you with enough military power to clean all the mess from the City within a few days."
"The Empire won't directly control you. You are free to administer this city as you want. You have my words."
Savannahclaw City was already under his control and now the Lionrock city was also going to be under his control. 'It seems the Istarin Empire's expansion to the Beast Continent has begun.' Only if the Prime Minister of the Istarin Empire was here. Then he would have stopped Aditya as this would mean more work for him.
Helen could not find a reason to say no. She was okay even if Aditya did not give her the position of the city Lord.
If everyone knew that the Istarin Empire had taken over the Lionrock city, then no one would dare to attack the Lionrock city unless that clan had a wish to make the entire Istarin Empire their enemy. And it was well known fact that His Majesty, the Dragon Monarch isn't the type of person who would let go of any grudges.
If some beast clan dares to attack his territory, then the battle is only going to end when they are completely destroyed. This was the way of the Dragon Monarch. Aditya was kind to his allies and cruel to his enemies.
'I don't see any reason to say no to His Majesty's request. If I accept, then this would mean that I would be able to create a safe environment to give birth and raise my children.' Helen thought while stroking her belly.
"It's my honor to serve you, Your Majesty...!!!!" Helen got on one knee to pledge her loyalty to the Istarin Empire and to Aditya.
"Please get up Miss Helen!!!!"
"Good for you, Aditya!!! But Lionrock city might be the dirtiest city in all of the Istarin Empire." Lilith smirked saying that.
"Don't worry, things are going to change soon," Aditya replied.
"But it seems I am going to be busy for the whole day." Aditya planned to make a teleportation array in this city before anything else. Once the teleportation array was made, Aditya was going to contact Watson and ask him to send some Dragonians along with other resources to this city. And the rest would be handled by his Prime Minister.
"But while I am busy, Sasha, and Lilith, there is something that I need the two of you to do for me."
Lilith and Sasha stood up. "We want us to clean the remaining annoying flies from the City?" Aditya nodded his head.
"Hehe!!! I guess it's time for some action." Lilith was grinning evilly.
"We will be back soon!!!!" Saying that both mother and daughter paid disappeared from their eyes.
Meanwhile, Helen wondered about the identities of Sasha and Lilith. 'I wonder what is the identity of the twins.' Since both mother and daughter pair looked the same, Helen mistakenly assumed that they were twins.
Helen could tell that these two were Aditya's fiances. But she wasn't sure about their backgrounds. She felt these two also came from very powerful backgrounds. After all, all of Aditya's fiances had special backgrounds. 'Maybe except for Lady Lara.......!!! I gues....' Helen wasn't completely sure.
"I will go and remove the curse from the city." Riya stood up to leave.
"Riya, please do something and clean the air of this city." Riya nodded her head. Using her powers, she could just cover the entire city with big trees. But to change the heavy air permanently, a Mass cleaning was needed throughout the whole city.
"I will go with you." Julia also wanted to help. She wanted to see if she could study this curse and learn more about it.
"Alright. Let me know if you two need anything." Both of them nodded their heads and left the Mansion as well.
"We will stay in the Mansion if you don't mind." Alicia felt sick just thinking about going outside. It was better if she and Lara just stayed at the Mansion for the rest of the day until the others were finished with their work.
"Of course!!!! Please make yourself at home!!!" Helen politely said. She also ordered a servant to show Alicia and Lara to guest rooms.
"Helen come with me!!!!" Before anything, Helen was going to need to sign a soul-binding contract with Aditya. So that there won't be any possibility of her betraying him or the Empire. All nobles of the Empire have to sign this contract. And Helen was no exception to this.
Really Thank you very much to all those who send support with valuable golden tickets. I hope we can keep it up!!!
