NOVEL NEXT Chapter 85: All Of Their Loyalty
After carefully reviewing each agreement, Luke signed three agreements containing mythril, which is extremely durable; the Hepra plant, which has very high healing properties; and the Red Sea Stone, which stands out for its beauty and is preferred by the nobility.
The Red Sea Stone and Mythril were requested directly by the Mahrak continent.
The Hepra plant, however, had been requested by the Hilios Empire through a formal request.
Luke, of course, did not cancel the mythril agreement he had previously planned and approved with Hilios, and simply added his final signature.
Now, each item needed to be transported to its respective location using the teleportation circle.
Luke would lose nearly four hundred thousand gold, but he would gain millions in return.
It was a business cycle.
After the agreement arrangements, everything was complete.
Luke had purchased thousands of the agreement items from the shop panel and, as a separate use for mythril, had bought tons of it and set it aside.
Sixteen wizards from the capital had been requested who could draw the teleportation circle and teleport excess items from one place to another.
When viewed from Selene's borders, the Great City was literally hundreds of thousands of kilometres away in the west and south continents. After all, this world was even larger than imagined, and of course, this made everything difficult.
This alone was enough to explain why wizards who could draw teleportation circles and personally achieve teleportation were so important.
In short, they were truly seen as the saviours of many battles, of liberation, and even of lives, and they fully deserved these names.
Within two days, Luke had welcomed the sixteen teleportation circle wizards he had requested from the capital to his city.
Each wizard respected Luke. Everyone loved Hiera, the Light of the Empire. Unlike some nobles, when Luke lost what he had, no one from the people hated him or looked down on him.
When Luke left the capital, the unrest in the capital had already begun to be felt by everyone.
Some wizards even called this an involuntary 'bewitchment'.
Luke was so loved and respected.
"Thank you very much for heeding my request and coming. It was a bit sudden, but under my command, you will take tons of mythril and Hepra Plants to the capital of the Hilios Empire," Luke said, looking at each wizard.
Each of them saluted Luke within seconds, about to set to work, when they were suddenly stopped by Luke:
"You will be generously rewarded for your work. Each of you is a rune circle draughtsman. I will give you litres of dragon's blood and a few moonlight drops. Please do your very best."
Luke's words were worth their weight in gold. They truly were.
Dragon's blood was an extremely expensive substance, but moonlight drops were even more so. They were so expensive that even with the sale of hundreds of tonnes of mithril, one could only afford to buy perhaps fifty, maybe sixty drops.
The reason for this was that this substance was sold directly by the Holy Empire. Under the order of the Pope, Saint Leonardo Marcelo himself.
The reason they sold this substance at such a high price was not because they were greedy, but because it was truly extremely rare. It was possible to produce only about seven or eight thousand drops of these Moonlight Drops in a year.
First blessed by Nyx, then by Selene, and immediately afterwards by Hecate, the pools of water transformed into pools that directly cured every illness, brought the spells of the rune carvers to a level of maximum safety, and ensured that the circles drawn upon them worked with 100% certainty.
That is precisely why this substance was called Moonlight Drops.
Nyx, the mother of the Night; Selene, the mistress of the Moon; and Hecate herself, the most powerful of the Witches and the engraver of runes.
It would certainly be accurate to say that it was one of the purest substances in existence.
This, of course, was enough to explain the astonishment in the eyes of the sixteen circle mages who were now frozen in place.
Even a few drops of Moonlight Drops were more than valuable enough for all of them.
"Are you serious about what you're saying, Your Highness?" asked one of the mages. Even though the person in front of him was Luke himself, it was quite difficult to believe what was being said. Well, it was for a proper reason after all.
"Yes. You will be using Moonlight Drops when you draw anyway. I will just give them to you as an extra, as a thank you for your work," Luke replied.
That was enough for each of them.
Each rune wizard immediately went to the area where the items were sorted and stored.
Under Elsa and Cain's supervision, everything began to run smoothly, and Luke was visited by someone he did not expect at that moment.
When the door to the workroom knocked as evening fell and Luke invited the person at the door inside, he hadn't expected it to be Theodas.
That white-haired, green-eyed elf, one of the first members of his city and even his town and village.
"Theodas?" Luke said, naturally surprised.
"My lord, I am here to discuss something with you, if you will allow me," said Theodas, clearly wanting to get straight to the point.
"Of course, please sit down," said Luke, and with that, the conversation began:
"My lord... The city has grown so, so much. It would be absolutely correct to say that I never expected it to be like this, but along the way I realised... no, we realised, as the first elves to settle in your settlement, that we are of little use to you," said Theodas, the sadness on his face quite evident.
"There's no need to think that—" Luke had just started to speak when Theodas rudely interrupted him and continued:
"Please forgive us, but we have a request to make, if you would grant us permission."
When Theodas asked this question, Luke tilted his head and inquired, "What kind of request?"
"My lord, if possible, we wish to go to the southern continent in your stead. News of the True Lord of Hiera's emergence has already spread across the world, but... Our wish is to take advantage of this opportunity to find possible Ancient Dragons or Ancient Phoenixes, if you will allow us." Theodas replied.
These words made Luke's eyes widen in shock. This was a serious statement, truly grave and equally dangerous.
"You will die," Luke said gravely.
"We will not die, my lord," Theodas replied.
"The moment you bring yourselves into the vicinity of the Ancient Dragons and the Ancient Phoenixes, you will cease to exist," Luke added.
"We will do our utmost to prevent such a thing from happening, my lord," replied Theodas.
After all these contradictory words, Luke narrowed his eyes slightly, scratched his head, and then asked, "Why do you want to do this?"
"To prove our usefulness to you, my lord," replied Theodas.
"There is no need for that. Your arrival here with Lady Nyx's words, the fact that you can hear my lady's voice, is proof enough that you are better than your station," Luke countered.
"We are aware of that, my lord... Nevertheless, this request is our personal desire. Even if it is a sin, we are acting without regard for Lady Nyx's thoughts. We pray three times a day, giving thanks to Lady Nyx before and after meals, but... this time, even if it is selfish, we want to do what we desire," said Theodas.
These words would have directly condemned Theodas to death within the Holy Empire, but the green-eyed elf was truly fortunate; Luke, though now a supporter of Lady Nyx, was not a very devout person.
"So you want to find those mountains instead of me, is that it?" Luke asked, responding to Theodas' words without wanting to sin.
"There are eighteen known mountains, thought to be home to the Ancient Dragons or the Ancient Phoenixes. You went to one, leaving seventeen remaining. Four of these mountains are on the southern continent. The largest number of mountains gathered on a single continent is exactly there, and we just want to prove ourselves to ourselves, even if it's a little selfish." Theodas replied.
"Why?" Luke questioned, overcome with great curiosity.
"To permanently remind ourselves of our trust in you and our almost worshipful devotion to you, my lord... At your command are half-demons, half-humans, elves, humans, fairies, and even dark elves, whose lineage is thought to be extinct. We fear the day will come when you no longer need us, and when that day comes, even if we are left behind, we want to be able to say with pride, [We did everything in our power until we were no longer part of this.]"
With that, Theodas finished speaking and waited for Luke's response.
"So this…" Luke had said.
"Loyalty, my lord," Theodas said, with full seriousness and happiness.