The silence between the two was heavy.
"How have you been those two days?"
Camelia awkwardly tried to begin the discussion by asking some small questions.
Looking at her acting like this, while twirling her hair, Sol shook his head while hiding a small smile.
She was really cute. Sol also understood that despite her being older than him, in terms of relationship he was more experienced than her.
Sol really wanted to forgive her, but if he did it too fast, everything would simply go back to what it was. He didn’t wish to have to constantly watch his back while wondering what she was up to.
“I have been pretty well, if I must be honest. Not much has happened recently. I am just working on the mirror dimension.”
The mirror dimension had so much potential. But because of the personality inversion function, it was simply impossible to use it with allies.
But even then, if he could reach the level of dimension encroachment and pull people in his dimension without having to touch them it would already be a great step.
Finally, since, at least from what he had seen, his dimension covered the whole world, he should in theory be able to teleport absolutely anywhere in the world or create dimension shift accessories like that angel called Nihil did.
Camelia simply nodded, she also clearly understood the potential of dimensional magic but currently, she had other things to think of.
“You haven’t been visiting me recently.”
“I have been busy lately.”
Silence fell once more, but this time it was broken by Sol,
“Camelia, we can discuss our relationship anytime you want. But save that for later. Right now we need to discuss the situation at hand.”
Saying so, Sol asked seriously, “Firstly, How trustworthy is that supreme daughter? Secondly, even if she is trustworthy, how trustworthy is her information? Finally, once all those conditions are cleared, what do we do about the assassination of the king?”
Three simple questions that showed the heart of the matter.
Camelia of course understood that she shouldn’t hide anything from Sol at the moment, or he might very well abandon her this time.
“If I am to be honest, this plan shouldn’t be from Kiku herself. Kiku is a very straightforward woman who dislikes schemes and the like. Not to say she is naive.”
“Hum… Describe her more to me.”
“As you know very well, in Wratharis, all the Supreme Daughters were Kitsune while all the Kings were Wolves. Inari Kiku Patientia is a six-tailed Kitsune as well as one of the oldest supreme daughters alive. Just below Demon’s supreme daughter, the elves’ one, and of course, Echidna. She is also one of the strongest. Hearsay that she is the closest to a demi-god.”
Sol remembered that the Divine beast of Patientia was a nine-tailed Kitsune called Tamamo no Mae. Meanwhile, the divine beast of Ira was the wolf Fenrir.
He really wondered what went through the goddesses’ heads when they gave those names.
Hiding his feelings, Sol grunted,
“Hum...Seems like a bigshot.”
“Haha. That she is.” Camelia chuckled while remembering the fox woman with a slovenly appearance who liked more drinking than fighting.
“Should I say that straightforward people become stronger easily? I do not know. What I do know though is that she isn’t the genre to scheme. She is more the type to rush headfirst in a fight. If not because she couldn’t hurt the wolf king, she would have killed him herself.”
“So, she is being manipulated?”
“Not impossible, but chances are low. I said that Kiku disliked schemes, not that she was bad at it. She is a fox, what’s more, a direct descendant of Tamamo no Mae after all. Trickery is in her blood.”
“Wait wait wait. The child of a divine beast was blessed?”
Camelia let out a bitter smile, “Indeed. Though she is a second generation, her father was a mortal. So she is considered as a third-generation and isn’t bound by the same rules.”
The rules bounding divine beasts were rather strict.
All 14 divine beasts were considered as the first generation. First generations could not descend on the mortal world.
Second generations were children of divine beasts created through asexual reproduction by using their half energy part. They could descend on the mortal world but could not leave their territory without permission. The only exception being, if they had a contract.
This was the case for Blaze.
Third generations were bound by no rules. But the chance of them awakening to their full power, such as obtaining a core, was extremely low. This was the case for Sol. What’s more, they were fully organic beings, unlike the First and second generations who were half energy.
Kiku’s situation was pretty awkward in that sense. From what Camelia knew, her birth caused a veritable uproar.
After all, she was the first child born from the coupling between a divine beast and a mortal. This was even more so since the father was a simple mortal one-tailed kitsune with basically no potential or anything special.
Even to this day, it was a mystery.
“I see. Well, not like it matters currently. Do you have an idea about who gave this idea to her?”
“This is where things are complicated. I have a very good idea, Shuten-Doji. The current leader of the Oni clan. She is a strong woman in the Duke realm. From what I know, she is rather cunning. But this isn’t the problem. The problem is her mother...Ibuki-Doji. The previous leader of the Oni-clan and also--A member of the Wings of Freedom.”
There she took a deep breath, “More than anything--She is the one who betrayed us.”
This time, Sol was pretty shocked. This situation was becoming more complicated.
“Perhaps I will finally know exactly what happened back then?”
Camelia shook her head, “There is nothing really complicated. Back then, we fought Ibuki and only won with difficulty. After winning, we were supposed to kill her, but when she told us that she joined the wings because she was forced to, Mars took pity on her and spared her.”
“...What?”
Showing a bitter smile, she continued, “Of course all of us were against it. But the problem was that it wasn’t the first time an enemy of ours became an ally. The same happened with Iris, Cloe’s mother, and Pandora, who back then was the crown princess of Envilya. So we had no way to make him change his opinion. He really believed we could trust her.”
“I guess we became too complacent? At first, we all had our guard against her. But day after day, week after weeks. The more time went past, the more we also began to trust her.
“Sigh. Anyway, the initial ritual to seal Echidna wasn’t supposed to use your parent’s life, but rather the Holy sword. The sword had to be placed in a very specific place and guarded to avoid it being moved. The ones who had to guard it were Lilith, Pandora, and Ibuki.
“Everything was going well, even though the fight had many casualties and we were all wounded or near death, we were on the verge of winning. I had even taken into account the possibility of Ibuki betraying us. But with both Pandora and Lilith, it should have been enough. After all, Ibuki was just a Duke rank.
“The problem here was that...She wasn’t a Duke.”
Sol closed his eyes, “A King.”
“Indeed, a powerful one at that. She pulled out the sword. Pandora and Lilith stood no chance. If Blaze did not rush to stop Ibuki, they would have been killed. Blaze did her best and took back the sword but it was already too late. The ritual was disrupted and everything was going to be annihilated.”
“So my father sacrificed himself.”
“That’s so and blaze followed him after entrusting you to me and giving her core and horns to Theresa.”
Sol could imagine the scene. At the same time, he caught a hint.
“They have been after the sword since then.”
“Most likely so. Of course, back then, we did not know that it was her main goal.”
“I see...I have always thought that he sacrificed himself and my mother for the sake of peace or the world.”
“Perhaps it was so. I do not know what his last thoughts were.”
Grief was hidden in Camelia’s voice.
Though she had no romantic feeling for Mars, he had always been a good friend. What’s more, her relationship with Blaze was close to that of siblings.
To this day, she had many regrets.
She could have done much more.
If she had tried to control Ibuki with her power she would have found early on that she wasn’t just a Duke.
If she had insisted to not let Ibuki close to the sword, the ritual would not have been perturbed.
If she hadn’t listened to Mars’s opinion and simply acted on her own as she wished, the present situation would have been so much different.
That’s why,
“I know I am derailing from our initial topic. But I want to be clear. I hate traitors and I feel no remorse about the way I used Gerald. Even if I had warned you beforehand, it would have not changed my choices nor subsequent action.”
Sol wanted to discuss more about Wratharis and their plan of action, but it seemed that he had to make things clear for now.
“You are misunderstanding something. The problem isn’t what you did. Your actions allowed the removal of several tumors in the kingdom. The problem lay in the fact that you hide it from me.”
Sol leaned in his chair and continued, “Trust is something that takes years to build but can be destroyed in seconds. By lying to me so many times, you broke a great part of my trust in you.”
“But I would never harm you.”
“Only me, right?”
Camelia’s silence was an answer unto itself. Sol could only pinch his eyebrows.
‘Why are all my women crazy?’
They all seemed to be fully functional but were a little too obsessed with him.
‘Or perhaps I am the crazy one for accepting them?’
Sol laughed at himself. It honestly didn’t matter how crazy they were as long as they didn’t harm him or each other.
The last thing he wanted to see was bloodshed in the harem.
Perhaps he could help them become closer to each other first?
That would be the first step.
“I have decided. Tonight, I will make a visit to the Travers Mansion with Nuwa. Meanwhile, you and the other girls will reunite and discuss and make friends or something.”
The first step toward friendship was discussion.
If each of them becomes closer to each other, the risks of them hurting each other would decrease greatly.
Anyway, it was just a trial test. If it failed he would find another way. What was the worst that could happen?
‘Damn. I had to jinx it.’
(AN: Pandora and Iris were introduced in the special Xmas chapter. The story of the seal was first mentioned in CH 22. The betrayal was first mentioned in CH 7 and 8. Man, time really flies fast. Already been a year since those chapters. Lol, anyway, the first reunion of the harem. Hahaha. So many headstrong personalities. I know many of you wanted to read such a scene. I hope I won’t disappoint. Finally, what happened to Mars is basically what I think should happen to most shonen mc like naruto. Even now I am still reeling from how Naruto convinced people like Nagato and Obito to fight and die for him in just 3 or so minutes of discussion. Imagine plotting for 20 years. Killing your Master and causing a world War but suddenly finding your conscience because of the words of some teen.)
