Chapter 455: CH
Before anyone could even think of saying anything— Lady Alex rushed. Yes, rushed...
She rushed straight toward Kallus.
Without stopping for even a moment, she grabbed his hand, shook it vigorously, and continued walking as she cheerfully said, "I’ll see you in a couple of hours, Lord Kallus!"
The moment those words fell, she practically dashed out of the conference room, leaving everyone there completely stunned.
While she was running, they could all hear her voice.
"Umm, can you tell me about the Vengeance-class assault ship? And the destroyer of the same class as well? Umm, umm! That’s good, extremely good! If I were to order now, how many units can I hope to get? Umm! Like, two months from now?"
Hearing this, the momentarily stunned Tier 3 power rulers and leaders were caught off guard. As they quickly connected the dots and her chats, they realized something...
"Oh no..." The same thought appeared simultaneously in everyone’s mind.
Realizing this, they all hurriedly came out of their stupor and, like Alice, quickly moved ahead. They even pushed each other at this point, not at all minding their images and dignity as Tier 3 state-ruling people.
They shook Kallus’s hands, who was just standing there with a smile on his face, not minding the play in front of him, and quickly saw them off.
But just as Valoria was about to release his hand, he didn’t let go. Instead, he maintained his grip on her, and his expression began to change. He turned to look if everyone else was far away. Only when he confirmed that did he look at the confused Valoria, who was staring at him with a weirded-out expression.
Kallus coughed in embarrassment, thinking about her expression, and said, "Empress Valoria, we need to talk about something extremely, extremely important about you—and indirectly, about your empire. So, please stay."
"Umm..." Valoria nodded her head before pointing at her hand with a slight blush. "Ca-can you release my hand first? Th-then we can talk. An-and about those weapons... c-can I first deal with that and then talk??" she asked, though she tried her best not to meet his eyes.
Kallus’s eyebrows twitched as he internally shouted, What are you blushing for?! while quickly releasing her hand. I just held your hand simply for a moment and you act like that?! Lady, you might be... umm, let’s not comment on that! But damn, you are tens of thousands of years old and I’m not even properly 20!!
He thought these things internally, but what he actually spoke was, "Umm, you could deal with those orders later. I will have them leave a bit of weapon units procurement for you based on the average of everyone. So don’t worry, you will get what you want—maybe even more. But that has to wait, for the matter I have to talk with you about is extremely, extremely important," Kallus emphasized once again.
This made Valoria curious. At the same time, hearing his words, she relaxed and nodded her head, saying, "Umm, thank you for that. Please tell me about the matter that you have in mind? That involves me and even my empire..."
She blushed as her mind wandered around those two words: her and her empire. She thought about how she was a single woman who hadn’t had any relationship with any other man in her long life. She briefly looked at Kallus before averting her gaze from him, thinking, Umm... ma-marriage might be... be acceptable.
Before she could go any further, she quickly shook her head furiously, internally crushing herself for the idea she had just cooked up.
Leaving Kallus once again astounded and speechless, he couldn’t help but grind his teeth while furiously pointing at her internally. Damn you, lady! Why are you blushing and shaking your head like a crazy person at the same time?! Damn it! Whatever, I’ll just ignore it as the fantasy of an ’old’ lady!
Thinking of that, Kallus nodded approvingly to himself for the thought, and then snapped his fingers. This instantly broke Valoria out of her fairyland as runes began to form around them, creating a barrier. This stunned Valoria, but seeing no negative intent from Kallus, she relaxed and didn’t react defensively.
Instead, she blushed again, shouting internally, Aaaahhh... th-this, isn’t it too fast?! Should we not get to know each other first? Develop feelings? And then do th-that kind of stuff??? And is this even a place for those things?! On a table and chairs?!
Kallus had no idea what was going on in her mind. If he did, his head would have blown clean off from the ideas she was cooking up.
"Cough, cough." He coughed to attract her distracted mind and spoke seriously about his accidental finding in her sea of consciousness, and the effect that thing was having over her...
Valoria, who had been blushing just a few moments ago, immediately became serious. For some reason, she didn’t doubt what Kallus was saying. But Kallus wasn’t going to just leave it at that; he showed her his findings through a projection created by his mana.
The projection displayed the deepest layer of her sea of consciousness, revealing that weird, red, fog-like substance, alongside his examination and discovery of its properties!
The more Valoria heard and saw the proof—which, frankly, she hadn’t even wanted to see—the more severe, serious, and deadly pale her expression became. She began to realize just how terrible her situation truly was.
She was forced to accept that, without her knowledge, she had become a mere plaything, a puppet to be manipulated without any inkling that this was happening to her or her subordinates.
What made her expression turn even worse was realizing her conduct over the past millennium, the current state of her empire, the decisions she had taken, and the obvious warning signs she had purposefully ignored under the influence of the red fog!
Pushing away the right choices while rewarding the wrongs made her pale with guilt, yet burn with fury at the same time!! She couldn’t help but want to go right then and there to kill those things with her own hands, and bow down before the graves of others to atone for her sins.
She stood up instantly as this thought crossed her mind, her powerful aura exploding around her.
Seeing this, Kallus wasn’t surprised at all. If he were in her place, he would be no different—maybe even worse than she was acting outwardly! For a ruler, especially one so powerful, falling under the spell of a third party without having any idea at all was an out-and-out embarrassment.
It was too massive a loss of face. Furthermore, knowing the kind of leader Valoria naturally was, having this unseen manipulator force her to do things completely opposite to her beliefs and nature was utterly crushing to her confidence, and a devastating blow to her heart of law!!
Despite all that, he felt no pity for her at all! In fact, if anyone asked him, he would simply say, Why would I pity her? For her suffering? He would reply that this was entirely of her own making. As the ruler of a race—and a powerful one at that—she had an infinite number of enemies. Those enemies were just waiting for her to slack off, lose focus, and be struck down.
Which was exactly what had happened. She should have known better. Having been alive for such a long time and coming from a lineage of rulers, she should have been well aware of the constant struggles a ruler faces. Even if she or her own predecessors hadn’t experienced it directly, there were countless other rulers from different races to learn from. This kind of insidious tactic wasn’t something being utilized for the first time in the galaxy at all.
In fact, despite her being manipulated like that, Kallus would say she was actually rather fortunate. Or rather, the Elven Empire itself possessed such a great destiny that it hadn’t fallen, even with its ruler acting as a puppet.
Although those unseen manipulators had caused significant harm to the Elven people, the core foundation of the empire remained largely intact; only the surrounding structures had been affected. But if this had continued any longer, the very foundation of the Elven Empire would definitely have suffered, and suffered disastrously.
Once again, he had to admit that the destiny of the Elven race was truly profound. Somehow, they had been led right to this spot, and he just happened to be someone who coincidentally possessed both the method and the power to neutralize this poisonous fog inside Valoria!!
This gave him a perfect opportunity to gain massive influence within this power and acquire resources that could only be found deep within the Elven Empire. But those material rewards weren’t the main driver for his move; what truly mattered was fulfilling the wish of the Cosmic Tree of Life, located on the origin planet within his universal domain.
