"Old man Kaur?! You're joining their bullshit too?!"
"Shh…Isobel. Now flip out before the three-minute mark so I can get finally get that lakeside resort from this idiot."
The green-eyed man whom Isobel referred to as 'Old man Kaur', gave a reply that the woman never expected, before going on to raise the stakes of his bet with the others.
"Give up, Isobel. There's nothing you can do when they get like this."
The tiger beastkin woman beside Isobel shook her head and spoke as she patted the poor Warlord's shoulder to console her.
"First off, stop calling me 'Old Man', I'm not even the oldest one here. Just call me Alden.
Still…I can understand why young Luke would be aggrieved. He has a reputation to maintain as the Alpha Continent's 'Sword Saint'.
How can someone that powerful lose in a sword fight against a kid who's still wet behind the ears?
Anyone with a brain would be able to realise something fishy was going on there."
The green-eyed man, Alden Kaur casually dismissed the 40-year-old Finley as a 'kid wet behind the ears' as he pointed out the reason why Luke was annoyed at losing his title.
"You really didn't think this through, did you Derrick?"
"…"
The former Emperor only turned his head to the side and whistled a strange tune, with half of the people seated at the table facepalming upon seeing his actions.
"You have my condolences, Luke. Having to deal with a Lord like that."
"I can hear you; you know?"
"Shut up, Derrick."
The Utrarian president gave a wry smile as he saw the scene of Alden shutting up the former Emperor of a world superpower nation like it was normal.
"Oh yeah. Alden…Your son was at the battlefield on that day too.
He showed up and healed Leoglor's daughter who nearly got killed by the necromancer, before going on to set a few thousand undead ablaze.
But this is where the strange thing happened…he suddenly disappeared, just like that."
Luke spoke up about the strange occurrence that happened during the battle against the Eighth Finger, citing George's appearance, and indirectly revealing the identity of Alden.
Alden Kaur, was actually Eliza's maternal Grandfather!
"I know. George told me about it afterwards.
He said that he believes it was most likely the action of a god who didn't want him to interfere too much in the battle."
All the beings present at the table stopped their chatting and bantering the moment the topic of a god came out of Alden's mouth.
"A god? Hmm…I think it may have been Artemisia. That Kid Evan told me he had some connections to her."
"Are you sure about this, Gavin?"
Ronald narrowed his eyes as he asked the grey-haired old man dressed in black robes, who was none other than the Chief Grand Magus of Kasteblum, Gavin Josey.
"Yep…that's what he said."
"I can Vouch for Gavin's statement.
Evan Eris is most likely a hero appointed by the goddess herself. Besides that, I see no reason why she would move her Vessel just to inform the Pope and have him tell me to provide the boy assistance."
The man who spoke up was someone who had been silent ever since the beginning of this luncheon, the Head Priest of the Great Western Empire's Church of Artemisia.
"So, the kid is a hero with ties to the goddess herself…"
"Oh, did I mention that he's most likely an 'Irregular' too?"
"Wait...what?!"
Uswil's Prime Minister exclaimed in shock on behalf of all those present upon hearing Luke's words, but the blue-haired man calmly downed his wine, before dropping the glass and casually replying.
"The necromancer's dragon was an 'Irregular', and the fact that I needed to release my limiter against it only served as proof of its words.
It also confirmed that Evan was an 'Irregular' like it.
Seems like your Granddaughter landed a troublesome catch, didn't she?"
Alden's brow twitched when he heard Luke's the last part of Luke's statement, but he chose to ignore it and dwell on the more important matters.
"Is his 'Irregularity' related to 'Knowledge' perhaps?
The reports did say he had lots of information about the Demonic Hand and their plans, but I can't seem to think of how he could have possibly acquired such information."
"Maybe he got it from the goddess?"
Penelope asked as she turned her gaze towards the Head Priest, but the man only shook his head before stating he was not aware if that was the case.
"The little information about the Demonic Hand that this kid gave us is comparable to all we've discovered after years of searching.
He even gave us the name of the 'Sixth Finger' who we'd been trying to find all this while."
"But it seems like he had a lot of restrictions regarding how much he could say. When I spoke to Rudy, he said that even Laurene had lots of knowledge concerning the matters of a thousand years ago, but she could not speak about them freely…"
Derrick spoke before ringing the bell at the centre of the table and summoning the waiters to have the plates carried out before a restaurant manager came in and introduced the dessert of their meal to them as it was being served.
"If what the new 'Seven Heroes' say is true, then brute forcing those ruins we discovered would be a bad idea.
Especially considering that the 'Second' symbol was weirdly emphasized more than the others.
What did she call it again?"
"A 'private base'.
We'd need the 'Second' hero to unlock it safely."
Luke replied to Thomas' words, taking a bite out of the dessert he was served and nodding in satisfaction before continuing.
"And I think we know where said 'Second' is…."
"Evan Eris, huh?"
"Bingo."
Isobel sighed in exasperation, muttering something about how they did not know where the heroes required to unlock the 'Ruins' in her country were.
"It'd be worst-case scenario if they don't want to be found. Evan did show me that the heroes could completely conceal themselves and make them nigh-impossible to be discovered if they so wished."
Gavin spoke, informing them about how Evan showed him the heroes could completely deactivate their mystic eyes and have the symbols disappear from their eyes completely.
"Right now, we only know the names and identities of two out of the seven."
"Make that three…My contact on the Beta Continent found the third."
"Really, Who?"
In response to Hannah's question, the elven Prime Minister only heaved a sigh before informing them about 'Elven Emperor' Zaos' daughter.
"Well…. nothing we can do about that one."
"My thoughts exactly."
All of them collectively sighed in exhaustion, before Thomas suddenly slammed his palms on the table, startling the restaurant managers outside as he spoke.
"Okay guys, let's just forget about all the problems we have to deal with for a few minutes and take that time to enjoy this fine dessert."
"Honestly, I was about to say the same thing."
"Me too."
Just when they had finally decided to put the serious matters aside, Derrick suddenly slammed his fist on his palm and spoke.
"Oh yeah, Hannah. When we're done here, let's go back to searching for those Ruins in the desert, okay?"
"Shut up and eat your dessert, Derrick."
"Yes, madam."
Penelope and the other ladies let out light chuckles upon seeing the two former ruler's interactions, while some of the guys changed the station on the radio and started discussing sports news, and the others began betting on how long it was going to take Thomas to piss Isobel off again.
With such vibes, the luncheon between the Alpha continent's most powerful people carried on without a hitch.
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