NOVEL NEXT Chapter 146: Seven Heroes [2]
Maria froze at Xeron's words, and Yorina muttered, "I am coming back to the imperial palace."
<All right.> He replied and hung up the call.
Yorina stared at the Faceless Ice Phantom before turning towards Maria and muttering, "Let's go."
Maria also looked at him and followed behind her.
Faceless Ice Phantom watched both of them leave and let out a relieved sigh before mumbling, "Okay, that worked... now they won't connect me to Jaden anyone... but what was that again? The seven heroes?"
He stared in their direction before summoning the Galewolf back and climbing onto its back. The Galewolf soon began to run towards the imperial palace.
"There would be no point in all of this if I don't reach the palace before them," he remarked and commanded the Galewolf to run as fast as it could.
***
The next day at the imperial palace.
All of the current generals of humanity's forces sat within the meeting room of the imperial palace, and with them stood six new young faces.
These young faces were what Tyron called the Seven Heroes who would help humanity survive its current crisis.
Behind Xeron Miravale's seat stood the Illusion Thorn — Selina Miravale. She was calm as usual, as if none of this mattered to her.
Behind Maria Bannister's seat stood the Mad Sword — Jamie Bannister, who was annoyed at being there instead of killing more of those abhorrent nightmares.
Behind Zaria Benedictus's seat stood no one because she herself was one of the seven heroes. She simply sat on her seat with a playful smile tugging at her lips.
Behind Pheona Solmin's seat stood the Nature's Shield — Navin hound with his usual warm smile as he tried his best not to fall under the weight of the responsibility of standing in the same room as the generals of humanity's forces.
Behind Melissa Silvert's seat stood the Silent Dagger — Shelly Silvert, and unlike her usual indifference, she appeared bothered or... displeased at having to stand behind the person she once addressed as sister, and her displeasure was mirrored by Melissa.
Behind Feamrion Salvus's seat stood the Blinding Bow — Arden Wilson. He had a flustered look on his face because he couldn't believe that he was actually one of the seven heroes, yet at the same time, he felt sad that Jaden wasn't with them.
Behind Baraham Vale's seat stood a lean young man with short white hair and star-like grey eyes. He was Baron Colleman, the last of the seven heroes.
Baron was calm, and he appeared to have the experience needed to take on the pressure of his current position within humanity's forces.
"Tyron... are you really suggesting that these kids will be the ones to save us from this crisis when even the strongest of them is just a Master like us?" Feamrion's sharp voice rang throughout the room.
Tyron slowly looked at him with a calm smile and said, "I am not suggesting anything, Feamrion. It's simply what I saw in the prophecy."
Faemrion rolled his eyes and fell back in his seat while mumbling in a displeased tone, "Prophecy this prophecy that at the end we got nothing valuable out of it."
"Khum!" Xeron cleared his throat and pulled everyone's attention towards him. He glanced at everyone within the room before his eyes stopped at Tyron, and he said, "I understand that it's simply what you saw, but we can't just put everything on the children because of it."
A faint chuckle escaped Tyron, and he corrected, "You forgot to add that these children are different..."
He shifted his gaze between all seven heroes and continued, "They are blessed and cursed by fate. Their lives are destined to leave a huge mark on the history of humanity, and this is just the beginning — They may not be able to save this Fatherion from falling, but they can surely create multiple such Fatherion in the future."
Everyone turned silent at his words until—
"Hahahaha!"
— A loud laughter echoed within the room like a slap to Tyron's face. However, he didn't react and simply turned his head towards the owner of the voice.
The others also turned their heads towards the voice with a displeased expression on all of their faces.
Tears welled up at the corners of Melissa's eyes as she forced the laughter down.
"Y-you are implying that she, the kick out of Silvert ducal house, will create Fatherion? Hahaha!" She laughed while pointing at Shelly, who was standing behind her.
The others' expressions darkened at her daggering remark, and Xeron snapped, "Lady Melissa, have you forgotten that you are currently representing the Chaotic Thundering Spear?"
Melissa gave him an ugly look and muttered, "I am not forgetting anything, Sir Xeron; instead, all of you have. So much so that you intend to listen to every babble of his."
Tyron smiled at her remark and responded, "You are right, Lady Melissa and I want to support you with all I am. So, can you please tell us what plan you have in mind instead of listening to my babblings?"
Melissa's expression turned even uglier, but she had no response.
The silence stretched further until it was unexpectedly broken by Shelly as she asked, "What do you want from us?"
The other six also turned towards him because they also had the same question plaguing their minds.
Tyron shifted his gaze between all of them before he rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look and answered, "For now, I want all of you to get stronger... until fate calls for you."
Shelly nodded and didn't ask any further questions. Selina closed her eyes, and Jamie literally turned to leave.
Seeing him blatantly leave, Faemrion asked with narrowed eyes, "What are you doing, Jamie Bannister?"
Jamie stopped in his tracks, turned his head towards him and replied in an irritated tone, "Leaving? I don't really have the mood for seeing a catfight between the supposed generals of humanity's forces... who seem to be doing all of this for fame instead of actually saving anyone."
Everyone frowned at his words, and Baraham questioned in a strict tone, "What makes you think that we are doing all of this for fame?"
Jamie exhaled deeply and turned towards him as he answered, "According to Sir Tyron, the seven heroes would save humanity from its crisis...
Now, logically, it makes no sense to put all of your trust in mere children to save the millions of humans...
But throughout this conversation, all you have talked about is not how you can continue forward with the information you have gained from the prophecy; instead, you want this seven heroes thing to simply stay as a random babble, otherwise, they would gain fame because our very existence would become what you all couldn't — Hope."
Baraham and the others turned silent, and Maria lowered her head to hide the smirk threatening to appear on her face.
***
Jaden had his hands in his pockets as she stood atop the rubble near the imperial palace and looked at the central district with mana enhancing his eyes.
"Are you mad?" Yuka, who sat on his shoulder, asked with a frown on her face.
"Why would I be?" He questioned as he continued to look around.
She jumped off his shoulder, she flew before him and said, "Because I took your pets to the heavenly tree."
He stopped flowing mana to his eyes and mumbled, "I was mad at first, but it's for their own good... the heavenly tree is the only place that has an equal amount of all elementals, after all."
Shr nodded and circled him while mumbling, "Are you sad that you aren't one of the seven heroes?"
He shook his head and replied with a smile as he turned around to walk back to the imperial palace, "No, I am not. Why would I be sad about having to deal with less trouble?"
She giggled at his reply and commented, "You say it as if you are not going to look for more trouble by yourself."
He chuckled at her remark and reached the entrance of the imperial palace.
Just as he stepped in, his eyes fell on the seven heroes. He looked at them for a moment before turning around and walking to a new tent.
"Are you not going to greet them?" Yuka questioned with a sad expression.
A smile creased his face, and he replied, "It would be better for them not to meet me."
She looked at the seven of them before following behind him. She began to fly beside him and said, "Isn't it surprising that all of your friends are part of the seven heroes? Such an unexpected coincidence."
'Coincidence... I wonder...' he remarked inwardly and thought back at everything that had happened till now.
From his unexpected reincarnation to everything that had been strangely set up by someone, it was as if he were a pawn who was being moved by a being that even he couldn't understand...