HPDBC Chapter 291: Deep Roots
Chapter 291: Deep Roots
Chapter 291: Deep Roots
Mid Morning - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut
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*vwoom-Click* *fwoosh* "This way, please." The masked butler quickly led us into a wide hallway after opening a large double door with a special medallion.
We had been walking for several minutes at that point, winding our way through several colossal hallways before eventually splitting away from the main crowd and coming into a smaller but calmer area with only butlers and maids.
The butler leading us, however, seemed to be of quite a high ranking, as everyone from servants to the servants ordering around others made way for him.
No matter how you could twist it, he was assigned to us in order to cater to us. The issue with that was that his methods were.. a little odd.
"If a young servant catches the Lord's eye, please do let us know." He casually motioned toward a young, slender woman with deep blue scales, giving us a bow as we walked by. "None of the maids here would be upset to serve a man of your stature and demeanor."
The young maid quickly glanced up at me before I turned back to the butler. "I have plenty of maids already. I do apologize."
All throughout our walk, he kept a close eye on me and essentially told me I could have whatever I set my sights on, be it a painting or a woman, but I couldn't care less about any of it. All it did was make me wonder how much they knew. -Would a Whyte actually get this kind of treatment.. or...-
But rather than the butler cutting off my thoughts, my ears were met with the voice of an older woman. "Hoho~, there's no need to be so modest~..."
Looking ahead of us, I quickly met eyes with an ancient stage woman with large, partially feathered white and blue wings, wearing a purple dress and no mask.
When I first saw her with my space mana, I figured she was simply some daring, wealthy guest; however, that was clearly not the case. "Is it that you aren't satisfied with our servants?" She quickly motioned the butler away as she walked up to us.
"That isn't the case. I apologize if I caused a misunderstanding."
"Hoh? Then why are you refusing?" She approached us quite confidently. "With just a word, I could gather any number of beautiful women, from slaves to high nobility."
The forced smile behind my mask quickly disappeared. "No, thank you. If I wanted someone, I could get them myself."
But even with my blunt rejection, her confidence remained unwavering. "Well, with your strength and looks, that may be true, but power and authority aren't omnipotent."
Seeing her sly look, I played along. "You speak like you know something that is..."
Her smile immediately widened. "Well, of course! What else would Bahamut be?"
My suspicions quickly eased, although not completely. "I'm not sure.. but I do believe that omnipotence may be a stretch."
"Hoho~!" Her smile instantly turned ecstatic. "In that case, I do hope you are willing to stick around for the auctions finale... I believe it will be of great interest to you."
I instinctually tilted my head in confusion before quickly straightening back up. "May I ask what it is?"
But instead of responding, she simply put her finger over her mouth. "All I will say is that it is very real." Quickly spinning back around with a smile, she gestured to a maid ahead of us and had her disappear into a room. "In any case, why don't I show you two to your booth? We still have some time to drink and talk more privately before the auction starts~."
Giving me a quick glance, she started down the hall, but even though my gut was trying to tell me something, I followed her.
-No wonder they looked so similar...- "So I take it that you didn't know what that space rune was changed to?"
She immediately shook her head.
"Well, yesterday, I had the displeasure of seeing it." I momentarily used silencing magic around Krystallo as I went to speak. "They had turned it into a device that could alter the memories and dispositions of young dragons... The deputy headmaster would have a few professors feed students an amnesia drug, bring them down to that rune, and-"
*SHATTER* The clear glass in her hand exploded before I could finish, and with it, my suspicions of her vanished.
-I know that feeling...- "It was all done on the orders of the Holy Kingdom, and no matter how much you want to deny it, the academy is full of people just like the deputy. With Bahamut's lack of presence for so many years, many dragons have begun swaying away from him in favor of the human gods who they believe can answer prayers or in the promises of land and riches that the Holy Kingdom says they will provide, even if they must poison the next generation for it."
The fire in her eyes quickly grew several magnitudes before she finally let out a heavy breath and leaned back in her seat. "Hooh... I apologize for my lack of composure."
I quickly nodded. "Don't worry about it."
There was a long silence before she finally continued. "Do you have any idea how long the academy has been corrupted?"
I quickly shook my head before glancing to the side with a displeased expression again. "I can't know for sure, but seeing how deep they have dug, it cannot be a short period... Regardless, I plan to clean them out in about a week."
She gave me a conflicted look immediately. "How can you be confident you will get them all?"
Slowly standing up, I looked across the room at her brother. "I can't. I can only be sure to cut the snake's head off."
She quickly looked at him across the room as well as anger had once again filled her eyes. "No. In some situations, it is best to also pull out the roots."
*VWOOM* Violently releasing her aura, she snatched her nephew from across the room and gripped his neck.
The fire in her eyes had quickly returned. "I knew the tree had begun to grow, but I never would have suspected the roots had run this deep... It seems my family has been too negligent."
Although Krystallo was still enraptured by the taste of her drink to be anything but confused as it happened, my expression was cold. -To blatantly spy on our talk like that... Even if he isn't related to the Holy Kingdom, he must be out of his mind...-
Poniriá looked like she wanted to snap his neck but quickly managed to wrangle her anger. "Vasilias... No, Sir Vasilias, I apologize if it may be an inconvenience, but I would like to meet again after the auction to continue our discussion." The air around her quickly turned cold. "I want to ensure that every last root is pulled from the ground."
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