The Princess And The Lord-Chapter 1322: Homecoming III

It took a few hours to reach Herriond so they used this time to sort out the information they had gathered while occasionally exchanging information they might have forgotten with each other. Meanwhile, Zhao Li Xin was brewing tea when something flashed in his mind.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I have important news to tell you." Zhao Li Xin’s hand that was lifting the teapot stopped.

Everyone’s gaze automatically fell on Zhao Li Xin who continued pouring the hot tea into a porcelain cup, once he’d done he lifted the teacup and then slowly took a sip.

"What’s wrong, honey?" Lory turned her attention from the laptop and turned her head to Zhao Li Xin.

Zhao Li Xin paused for a moment to taste the tea he had brewed, a second later his brow furrowed. He took a deep sigh and then added a few spoons of sugar after that he stirred it gently then walked back to his chair.

Zhao Li xin crossed his legs and then began to speak in an indifferent manner, "When I was in the Death Knell labyrinth, I met a group of Paladins wandering around the place. I found out later that they had been in the Labyrinth before me."

"YOU FOUND WHAT!" Zhao Li Xin’s words were like firecrackers that shattered Lory’s calm.

"A group of Paladins" Zhao Li Xin reiterated with an innocent face.

"I know that!" Lory roars in anger.

A second later the anger was replaced with anxiety, "Are you hurt, What happened, how could they...? I mean, why didn’t you tell me!" Now, the anxiety turns to stress.

"You were injured and unconscious for days, so how could I care about anything else?" Zhao Lixin replied calmly as he leisurely walked towards Lory. He placed the teacup on the table and then gently invited Lory to sit down, "Drink first, I’ve put three spoons of sugar for you, just like you like it."

Lory was still upset but couldn’t criticize his words, Zhao Li Xin was right, it was because she acted recklessly that she became unconscious for a few days and made everyone worry, furthermore, he kindly made tea for her so how could she still blame him?

hence she could only pouted while sipping her tea silently as Zhao Li Xin said.

Jay and Clift exchanged looks of surprise, for someone who grew up with Lory, they knew very well how hard it was to coax Lory when she was angry, however, Zhao Li Xin managed to calm her down with a simple cup of hot tea and also without uttering any threatening words like Fred and Fargo usually did.

Jay’s expression said ’He’s good’

Then Clift gave a faint nod indicating he agreed.

Zhao Li Xin sat beside Lory then said "The information I found is very sensitive even for Hugo and the others, it’s not that I don’t trust them I’m just worried that this will dampen their spirits"

"That’s why you didn’t bring this up this matter in front of everyone?" Jay looked at Zhao Li Xin inquisitively, he was certain Zhao li xin deliberately hid the information from the others.

"Is that why you didn’t talk about this in front of everyone?" Jay looked at Zhao Li Xin curiously, the more he interacted with Zhao Li Xin the more he liked him.

The man looked calm and level-headed, he slo seemed to have a cold calculated demeanor when making decisions which wasn’t bad since it could balance out Lory’s tendency who sometimes act based on her emotions.

"Yes, because what I found might be too much for them, especially for young people like Owen and the others." Zhao Li Xin spoke in a flat tone, he leaned his back on the chair languidly while propping his head with his fist.

No one cared about Zhao Li Xin’s attitude because Lory was used to it and didn’t realize it while Jay and Clift were used to Lucas who more or less acted the same as Zhao Li Xin. Instead, they were more concerned about what information Zhao Li Xin found.

"The Paladins said they came to the labyrinth to preserve the place so when the masquerading spell wears off they will come to rejuvenate the spell" Zhao Li Xin explains.

"Masquerading spell? is it different with camouflage spell?" Lory frowned.

"No," Clift shook his head, "A camouflage spell is like a blanket that hides something from the eyes or other senses, but a disguise spell is more than that, it’s like an illusion spell but more tangible, you can feel it, see it, it makes you think something that is not." Clift’s eyes were fixed with worry.

"As far as I know it’s not an easy spell and it requires a lot of power, not just anyone with talent can use it, let alone to cover a place as big as the labyrinth" Jay added.

"Are there any Gifted people among the Paladins?" Jay asked Zhao Li Xin.

"No, and he didn’t tell me how because he said it wasn’t his job but another team’s job," Zhao Li Xin said again.

"How many Paladins are there?" Lory was surprised because she wasn’t used to seeing Paladins working in large numbers.

"I didn’t count but there were quite a few, about a dozen, probably" Zhao Li Xin shrugged nonchalantly before continuing "They work in two teams, one to wipe out any possible disturbances then the second team collects the remaining resources in the labyrinth and when they’re done they’ll rejuvenate the spell"

"Resources?" Lory raised her eyebrows.

"Elysian crystals, they said there was a lot there but I didn’t see any, probably the paladins have already collected them and taken them out long before I came"

"Did they tell you why that place was so important to them?" Jay probed further.

"Yes, they told me it was a gateway for a God."

"A God?" Lory sneered.

Zhao Li Xin waved his hand dismissively. "In my opinion, that place is the gateway to another world, and the god they mentioned isjust another fake god." Zhao Li Xin refused to believe it, in his opinion a god should not be so weak he needs a gate to enter the human world let alone it needs human help to enter the world.

"Humans have very few words to describe powerful beings that are beyond their comprehension, that’s why they always use the word God for anything that seems to be from this world, so I guess this time is no different."

After meeting Lazarus, Emperor Lei Yu, Zian, and Arthea, his understanding of supernatural beings increased, and no matter how powerful they might seem, none of them were omnipotent so he had nothing to fear.

Lory understood what Zhao Lixin meant, humans really do like to throw around the term God all over the place.

"What else did they say?" Lory asked.

"They also talked about the god seed that gave them tremendous power, sound familiar?"

Clift, Jay, and Lory’s eyes widened in shock. "Another seed!" Jay gritted his teeth. "So we can deduce who received the seed of life right," Lory gave Jay and Clift a meaningful look.

"The paladin’s power comes from the seed of life, no wonder it feels different," Clift scoffed in disdain.

"They also talked about wiping out all the Gifted people from the world including... the Lucient Family" Zhao Li Xin laughed at their audacity for thinking they could wipe out Lory and her loved ones while he was around.

Zhao Li Xin then continues to speak in a mocking tone "...And how the saintess to be the chosen one, how she gifted with the power to give life...I don’t know how that works but we wouldn’t be gullible enough to believe a human being could give life without dreadful consequences after all we have learned from the Seeress, that where there is death there always going to be death"

"Life for a life" Lory muttered softly.

"The Seeress had taught us that the scales must be balanced, and if this power must come from a being called Zalchana, there must be a price for anyone who uses it, after all, nothing is free, right?" A remote coldness came into Zhao Li Xin’s eyes.

"So the Saintes’s power comes from the outside world." Jay’s eyes looked wary.

"Presumably so," Lory shrugged and fell silent as she sank into her own thoughts. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

"Now I understand why Luxemborough and the S.A.I.N.T. organization are working together, they both want to wipe out the Lucient family and the gifted people and when everything is over they will emerge as the two dominant forces in the world," anger flared in Clift’s eyes.

A wave of anger rose within him, and Jay’s knuckles turned white, "Then Luc’s Condition must have something to do with their experiment!"

Lory’s expression darkened "Yes, and something just crossed my mind, do you remember what the documents said about taking great risks to revive Scion, they said about absorbing mana from within and how the healer’s power is not enough... I don’t want this true but could it be what inside Luc is Scion?"

"Son of a Bit**!" Jay slammed the table hard until it cracked and the tea set fell.

Jay realized his excessive reaction might scare Lory, Jay immediately calmed himself down and apologized "Sorry Lory..." he said regretfully while cleaning up the fallen tea set then Clift helped wipe the remaining spills on the table with a tissue.

"No need, I also want to hit something now," Lory rested her back on the chair while staring at the ceiling while muttering "Where a pack of Wyvern when you need one"

Zhao Li Xin felt hostility toward the S.A.I.N.T. organization and its allies increased tremendously after seeing Lory sad. Zhao Li Xin stroked Lory’s head gently "You have to calm down because there is still something else I want to say..."

Lory whined at Zhao Li Xin "There still more?"

"Unfortunately so..." He didn’t want to add her worry but Lory must wanted to know about this. "You asked what they do to the healer other than use their power to nurture the seed of life they also used their power to open up the gate"

"They used healer power to open the Gate, how?" Lory finds it hard to believe.

"They used thousands of them" Zhao Lixin said as carefully as he could though it didn’t make much difference.

"Thousands..." Lory held her breath.

"Yes they said that" Zhao Lixin held Lory’s palm which turned cold,

"Lory, I think, this creature feeds on the healing power of those with the same power as your family but because their power is only a glimmer of what your family has, they had to sacrifice many of them"

Unreasonable guilt began to creep into her heart "Just because their power is a bit similar to my family’s power, they are —"

"This isn’t your fault Lory!" Zhao Li Xin dismissed her wild thought, "Do you remember what Girsha said about the creature infiltrating your world? It didn’t sneak in but was invited in and now we know who invited it in, remember? this is our mission, we must stop them!"

The word mission snapped her back from her troubling thought, "Yes? Yes, Girsha said the creature from the primordial land, it was one of the oldest worlds that had been created, but that world was supposed to be dead but something remained...a spirit tree or something, Girsha wasn’t sure either, so it was that thing that sneak into our world!"

"Spirit tree makes sense!" Jay contemplated.

"Well it was uncertain but let’s take it as it is, why is it always a tree anyway!" Lory began to grow antipathy to all kinds of trees.

The Noxcra agent suddenly broke the intense atmosphere "Excuse me, Your higness, we will land at the king King Ar’kheon airport in fifteen minutes"

"We arrived!" the despair feeling she felt before instantly replaced with an excitement.

Lory ran to the seat beside the window and then excitedly pulled up the window shade, she looked down impatiently at the sky that was still filled with fluffy white clouds.

As the cloud completely disappeared, a stretch of modern buildings neatly arranged with numerous skyscrapers made of glass and steel stood tall magnificently, adding the grandeur of the city, while cars passed along the winding flyovers surrounding the buildings decorated with trees and plants that climbed up the building surface it formed a floating garden on top of the building.

"It’s the King’s city, Herriond!" Lory’s eyes shone with joy and excitement.

Zhao Li Xin sat behind Lory and curiously looked at the vast city with awe, he had never seen a city so unique and beautiful as this before as if nature and architecture collide harmoniously.

"It’s smaller than it used to be, but it’s still beautiful, right?!" Jay said proudly.

Lory’s hand trembled as she grazed the window surface. The last thing she remembered about Herriond was when the city was engulfed in fire, everything turned to ashes along with his father.

Remembering Herriond always leaves her with a sense of loss and bitterness but seeing Herriond’s condition right now reminds her of the fond memories she thought she had forgotten.

"It’s even more beautiful than I can remember ..." Lory said in a choking voice.

"Welcome home, Lory," Clift said with a warm look.

An electric pulsed went through her bones filled her whole being with excitement, Joy and longing soon after tears start filled the corner of her eyes, "I’m home..."