Reincarnated As The Villainess's Son-Chapter 530: A Hopeless World [1] [Ancient Sealed Entity]
[On the other side of Sgaeyl Household.]
Zavien walked confidently along with a woman.
She had long pristine white hair with a slightly wrinkled face, her apathetic white eyes stared upfront.
Coretta Kurai Uzume.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Coretta still brought her grandson.
For her, training her successor was as important as keeping her home.
"Just so you know." Coretta said, her voice deep. "Don’t try to antagonise anyone during the meeting."
Zavien didn’t look at her.
"I know," he said, hands in his sleeves. "I’m not a child."
Coretta’s white eyes shifted slightly toward him.
"But it doesn’t mean, you should let anyone walk over you," she replied calmly, rubbing her hand over his head. "Remember, I am always on your side."
Zavien smiled. "I know, grandma."
They walked through the wide stone road that led toward the Sgaeyl estate.
The Uzume family was a well-known misogynistic family.
For as long as they had been liberated by Moshel back in the second Holy War, they had been sacrificing a girl every generation.
The favoritism for a male head was so much so that Coretta was the first female head.
And the only reason Coretta came to power was because she killed every one of her siblings.
"Grandma." Zavien said, glancing at her. "What’s going on with my marriage?"
"This alliance is important, child." She responded softly. "With Ediwn dead and the decline of his family we can only change our plans."
"But why Asura?" He asked, though he had an idea.
"Mortis is injured for life and weakened." She replied, looking forward. "If we play our cards right, we could control the Asura family in near future."
Coretta patted his back. "Don’t worry, you can have other women by your side."
"..."
Zavien nodded his head in response.
Truth be told, he was sure he would rule everyone sooner or later.
There was no doubt in his mind, all he needed to do was to find how.
Servants hurried past the outer roads, preparing for the gathering.
Coretta’s face turned more serious the closer she got to the hall room.
"...One more thing." She said, stopping in her tracks. "Do not engage with Himmel."
Zavien turned to look at her fully. He had been hearing about Himmel for a while now.
Part of the reason he wanted to join the meeting was to see him.
The Hisoka family had a very keen interest in Himmel and they had not shied away from asking Zavien a favor.
A favor to provoke Himmel to see his limit.
"Is he that dangerous?" he asked looking up at her.
Coretta didn’t answer right away.
Her white eyes stared ahead at the estate, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
"He is dangerous in the way fools are," she said at last. "And you don’t argue with fools."
They resumed walking.
"You like testing people," Coretta continued. "Pushing them and finding their limits."
Zavien didn’t deny it.
"That works on heirs, elders and on politicians." Her tone hardened. "It will not work on him."
Zavien’s eyes sharpened slightly.
"So he’s stronger than you?"
Coretta’s heel tapped loudly against the stone.
"I don’t know," she said. "And that is exactly the problem."
They stopped walking when they found two people coming from the left.
Coretta immediately noticed the man with one hand.
Mortis noticed her as well and so did Lysander with him.
"Be nice to Lysander." Coretta said walking away. "Weak as he may, he is a useful tool."
Lysander walked towards Zavien and the white haired boy couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.
Even though Lysander feigned confidence, he could still feel his fear.
"Interesting...." He mumbled, greeting him with a smile.
Lysander stopped a few steps away.
"It’s been a while." Lysander said, his voice tough. "Haven’t seen you since forever."
Mortis and Coretta were walking away to talk with themselves.
Zavien tilted his head slightly and nodded. "...Yeah, not that you matter to me."
Lysander let out a small laugh, but it came a second too late.
"I see." He said. "The outside training hasn’t dulled you yet."
"On the contrary." He replied. "I am the strongest in my age group."
"I highly doubt that." He replied, shaking his head. "With Himmel around, I don’t think you are."
"Himmel," he repeated lightly, like the name meant nothing. "You people talk about him like he’s some kind of myth."
Lysander didn’t take the bait.
"Believe what you want," he said. "I’ve seen what happens around him."
"Oh?" Zavien asked. "Does the sky fall? Do people kneel? Or do you all just lose your spine?"
Lysander looked at him with nothing but a blank stare.
He clicked his tongue in response. "Bunch of cowards."
Lysander didn’t rise to it.
That alone annoyed Zavien more than an insult would have.
"You’ll understand one day," Lysander said quietly.
"Heh." He smirked. "We will see how strong he is."
Coretta gestured towards Zavien to come with her.
The meeting was about to start.
---
Tap! Tap!
I gently tapped the armrest of my seat as I sat in the hall room with a circular table.
Pasithea sat by my side and so did Mariam.
Most of the people were already within the room.
Edel of Castia, Drake of Fenrir, Orelena of Aljanah and Ledgar of Valantine.
They all sat with a tense look on their faces as they all were aware of Akasha’s condition.
The gate opened up and the last two Family heads also walked inside.
Mortis took his seat and so did Coretta.
The two along with them stood by their side.
Lysander didn’t have the guts to look up at me but the other boy did.
....Zavien. He was staring dead into my eyes.
I looked away first, because the more I looked, the more I wanted to murder him.
’...How the fuck did this even happen?’
There was no chance of Epione getting engaged with him in the game.
Nothing like this should have happened!!
I rubbed my temples to calm my nerves, I was sure if I asked Mortis politely enough to cancel this he would do that.
"Shall we speak about the odd one?" Orelena said, pointing at one guy along with us. "Who is he?"
I turned my gaze on the man as well who wore a blue priest robe and a long hat.
With a smile he stood up and bowed towards everyone. "My name is Panta, a member of Saintess Cathedral church of moon Goddess."
"Who the fuck called you?" Zavien said, his voice laced with arrogance. "This is a matter of Akasha."
The words had barely left Zavien’s mouth when the temperature in the hall seemed to drop.
"A fair question," the priest said calmly. "But I came her to provide a solution."
Everyone turned to look at Mariam who nodded. "Yes, I decided to let him join in this matter."
Zavien clicked his tongue but didn’t speak again.
Coretta didn’t look at him, but the pressure around her eased just a little.
Panta gave a small bow toward Mariam.
"Thank you."
"Then talk," Drake said. "We don’t have time for rituals and greetings."
Panta nodded and looked at Mariam as if to tell her to take the lead.
Mariam stood up and began. "As you all know the condition of mana within Akasha is not stable."
Her hands pressed on the table which showed a hologram of Akasha along with the roots of Nuria.
Several points beneath the city began flashing red.
"There has been several places were the mana has gone lower than Lumina."
With a sigh, she said. "And sadly I have no idea why."
Orelena chimed in with a question. "Have you tried digging in those area?"
"Yes." She nodded her head. "But we found nothing worthwhile."
A silence lingered within the place as they all had tense looks on their faces.
Panta stepped forward again, sleeves swaying softly.
"I would like your attention." He said. "As I know what is actually happening."
Edel said coldly. "Then stop talking in circles. What exactly is it?"
Panta met his eyes.
"An ancient sealed entity who has woken up." He said. "One that feeds on mana, emotions, and thought."
Edel scoffed. "Are you stupid? There is no such thing—."
"Our Goddess showed us all what’s inside." Panta cut off his words. "It is not a laughable matter."
"The tree of Nuria was planted by Bunial when he first arrived in Akasha." I questioned him. "Are you saying this entity was here before everything?"
Panta didn’t hesitate.
"Yes."
The answer settled heavy in the room.
"Our Goddess say it was way before anything." He continued. "The entity was here before anything."
I narrowed my eyes. "And who exactly is your Goddess?"
"The moon goddess."
I urged. "And that is?"
"We are forbidden to say or know her name." He replied with a straight face. "Her name is a cruse for those who are nonbelievers."
I chuckled slightly, leaning back on my chair.
A fucking stupid priest came here and said stupid stuff.
My gaze shifted towards Mariam as to ask why she brought this clown.
"I got no lead except him." She replied, seemingly knowing what I wanted to ask. "There is genuinely no reason for this to happen."
I exhaled slowly through my nose.
So we were gambling on a priest from an unknown location.
’Hm, come to think of it...the whole thing is really suspicious.’
Knowing that the influence of Outer Gods was strengthening I couldn’t help but be vigilant.
"Fine," I said. "Let’s pretend I’m listening. What does your goddess want us to do?"
Panta lowered his head slightly.
"She does not want," he said calmly. "She warns."
"Same thing," Drake muttered.
Panta stepped closer to the table.
The red points on the hologram reflected in his eyes.
"The seal beneath Akasha is failing," he muttered.
"Because of this ’entity’?" Edel asked, voice cold.
"Yes."
"Again what do you want us to do?" Zavien asked.
"Strengthen the seal." He replied. "That is the only way."
"And how we do that?" I asked, rubbing my temples.
Panta looked at me. "My church will handle it."
"Yeah..." I said, shaking my head. "It’s time for you to leave priest."
"You can’t do this." Panta replied with calmness. "It will lead to your demise."
"I will not repeat—."
"Now, wait a minute." A voice interrupted me. "Who are you to send him away."
I shifted my gaze towards Zavien, who looked at me with smile.
"Say that again," I said calmly.
"I asked," he repeated, "who you think you are, dismissing someone in a meeting of family heads."
Ahh.
Is this fucker really doing this?
