"You saw my granddaughter's real form, right?"
A pin-drop silence descended inside the room after Maximilian asked his question.
Lux's first thought was to deny it, but he knew that lying to a Saint was very risky. In the end, he decided to come clean and tell Maximilian everything that happened.
"I should have knocked when I went to Cai's room," Lux started. "I saw her real form by accident."
"Good," Maximilian commented. "If you lied just now, I would have slapped you silly, but since you admitted your wrongdoing, and it was truly an accident, I will forgive you."
A playful smile appeared on Maximilian's face as he eyed Lux with satisfaction.
"You see, my granddaughter has disliked wearing clothes since she was little," Maximilian explained. "When she was still very young, it was fine. But as she grew older, we knew that things needed to be done in order to protect her reputation. The blood of the Rowan Family flows in her veins. Because of this, she was able to learn the art of Therianthropy fairly easily."
"But she can only shapeshift to become a boar. Perhaps, it was due to her admiration of me since she was young, so she wanted to become like me as well."
Lux nodded in understanding. When Maximilian got angry, he would transform into a hellish, giant, Black Boar, whose capacity for destruction was second to none.
Cai had grown up hearing her grandfather's bragging, and because of it, she had unknowingly imprinted to her inner core that becoming a boar would make her just as amazing as her Grandpa.
Since she didn't like to wear clothes, she would just transform into a boar. Although her way of thinking was unconventional, it still gave her family a sense of relief, knowing that Cai wouldn't be walking around naked all the time, letting everyone see her youthful beauty.
The only problem was that, at least once every three days, she would return to her original form for half an hour to an hour. During this time, Cai would lock herself inside her room, preventing anyone except her family from seeing her.
Maximilian had also placed a spell on her body, which would allow him to know if anyone saw her true form and who that person was. In the Saint's eyes, all those who had laid their eyes on his granddaughter would have a reddish aura that surrounded their bodies, allowing the Saint to know who they were.
"I promise that I will not divulge this secret to anyone," Lux said with seriousness.
"Well, I will believe you for now," Maximilian replied. "Cai and Iris are very close friends, and your grandma and I are close friends as well. You might not remember it, but Vera brought you to me when you were only two years old."
"Grandma did?"
"Yes. She wanted me to take a look at your body in order to find the reason behind your abnormal disease that causes you to faint. That is when I discovered that your soul was damaged. However, looking at you now, it seems like you have fully recovered. You even won the tournament and proved that you're the strongest member of the young generation. You really surprised me!"
Maximilian laughed heartily because he was truly surprised when he found out that the sickly boy that he thought would remain crippled for life had suddenly bounced back and even won the tournament where the strongest youngsters from all over the Six Kingdoms gathered to prove their worth.
A moment later, Maximilians' gaze landed on the three rings on Lux's hands, which made him arch his eyebrow in surprise.
"So Cai gave you the ring I made for her," Maximilian commented. "Does Iris have the pair to this ring?"
"Yes," Lux answered. "I'm sorry. Cai gave them to me in the spur of the moment. I can return them if you want."
"Hahaha. No need. Just treat it as a congratulatory gift to your engagement with Iris. All I ask is that you treasure them because I made them with great care. If you get married in the future, feel free to look for me. I will personally craft your brides' wedding rings."
"Thank you very much!"
"You sure are something. You didn't flinch when I said brides and not bride," Maximilian commented. "So, do you plan on having more than one wife? Is Iris fine with that?"
"Um, I am not actually looking for more wives," Lux replied. "But, Iris said that she is fine with me having more wives. All I need to do is tell her, so that she can meet them and see if they are worthy of me or not."
"What an understanding young lady. Maybe I should let Cai be your second wife?"
"Hahaha."
Lux laughed because he thought that Maximilian was just joking. The Saint also laughed making it look like he was just teasing Lux as well. However, only Maximilian knew the truth of whether he was just joking or not.
Half an hour later, Lux was escorted to his room by one of the servants working for the Chief of their tribe.
When Lux arrived at the Rowan Tribe, he was kind of expecting to see all of them living in tents, just like the other tribes near the borders of the Six Kingdoms.
However, what he saw were large huts made from animal bones and skins that could easily fit a family of eight.
The servant that was escorting him explained that all of the houses of the Rowan Tribe were artifacts made by the Great Chief himself.
Whenever they traveled, the houses would turn into fist sized balls, made from animal bone, that they could pack in their belongings, making them very easy to carry.
They would then ride their mounted beasts, and migrate to a different location, while keeping their houses with them at all times.
Lux was quite interested in this portable home, and he decided to ask the Saint to give him one as a reward after their expedition in the Sacred Dungeon.
Elysium was a very big world, and there would be times that he would need to camp out in the open as he traversed the lands, going from one place to the other.
Having a portable house would easily solve his problem and allow him to live in comfort, despite being away from villages, towns, and cities, for long periods of time.
That night, Lux and Keane were invited to join the Rowan Family for dinner, which the two gratefully accepted.
There were three more days before the Hidden Domain opened, which was plenty of time to get to know the members that would be joining their expedition. Lux had already known how strong Keane was, but he was not aware of how strong Xander and the other warriors of the Rowan Tribe were.
Because of this, he decided to have a sparring match with them to better understand their abilities.
Maximilian had assigned Lux to be the Captain of their expedition, making him the final decision maker of the team.
Although he was the Champion of the Tournament, the teenagers of the Rowan Tribe were itching to spar with him to see how strong he really was.
Lux thought that this was a good idea. As long as his temporary teammates were convinced of his strength, it would allow him to command them without any resistance to his orders.
During Dungeon expeditions, teamwork was the key and Lux had no intention of working with people who didn't trust him.
He would rather go Solo, or take just Cai and Keane with him, rather than lead a group who didn't see him as their leader.
When the warriors of the Rowan Tribe heard that Lux planned to duel with the people accompanying him to the Sacred Dungeon, all of them gathered to challenge him one by one, which the Half-Elf was more than happy to oblige.
