Chapter 706: World's Representative

"You both do understand what a soulmate bond is and what kind of limitless possibilities it holds?" Aurex began.

Cyrandel and Louis nodded simultaneously.

Aurex then gestured towards Louis.

"No one can know it better than you. You have multiple such bonds with your partners, but one thing I am sure of is that, due to the shared attention, you cannot progress after a certain point."

Louis nodded.

"That's because my wives have yet to come and truly like each other."

"That's on you; women are like that. You can never understand what's going on in wom—cough, so anyway." He glanced towards Cyrandel and continued.

"My point is, even with your not-so-high-level bonds, you have produced a line of prodigies; in the coming days, even better ones will be born.

"You should already have an idea of what I am talking about, but just to clear things up, a soulmate bond directly brings the couple closer to their respective World Cores, from where talents are created and distributed."

"And you do understand what coming closer to a World Core means." Aurex pointed at Leo on the screen, who was busy patching up the cracked parts of the platform pillar.

"If what you both are saying is true, eventually, that boy and the girl will form a soul bond, and since it's almost guaranteed that a god is behind the boy, in other words, he has the right to become the representative of his race, which in this case will be the humans."

"But think about it: what will happen to the girl who is deeply connected to the boy, and whose origin directly connects her to the elves?"

"She will most likely end up becoming the representative of the elves if somehow her elven blood is strengthened..." Louis completed the thought. Though he refrained from talking about how Leo and Lily most likely already had a deep soul bond.

Louis turned towards Cyrandel.

"You still have the [World Tree Sap], right?"

She nodded and looked at him.

"Though I cannot make use of it unless you willingly allow me to try and have contact with Lily so that we could form some sort of familiarity."

Louis thought about it. He had kept Leo and Lily's information top secret and, without anyone realising, had already built a strong network around them to keep them safe, so this was a difficult choice.

But he also saw an opportunity that would allow him to keep his obligation to the World Core intact while also forming a good relationship with the elves higher up.

Neither he nor the other Emperors cared much about what the common populace thought of them or their rule; they cared about their own interests and fulfilling their obligations. But that didn't mean they were supposed to massacre; no, keeping their race alive and healthy was one of their obligations.

"I can allow you that... but." In the end, Louis needed to comply. If the elves didn't obtain a representative soon enough, their survival in the near future would become very difficult. And losing a strong force like the elves would directly make humans a lamb waiting for slaughter by the demons. But that didn't mean Louis would compromise much.

Cyrandel also straightened up.

"State your conditions."

"First, I will not lift the necessary foreign-race enslavement decree; what I will do is change it: it will no longer be necessary for elves to have slave status if they are on human lands. Naturally, you can do the same."

She nodded.

"Accepted, but with a clause."

"Let's hear it."

"We will conduct joint research in order to progress the research on slave seals. That is, conditional enslavement. It will no longer mean that if anybody owns a slave, they have complete rights over them as their personal property.

"With conditional enslavement, slaves have basic rights to defend themselves if the master violates the contract clauses without permission."

Louis nodded.

"It doesn't affect our obligations to the World Core, so accepted. Though we both will need to reform our rulebooks, which would clearly state when a slave can have rights and when they don't. I mean... no noble would want to have a conditional slave who had come to assassinate him.

"Even the war prisoners... though things might vary, unless an unconditional slave will be obtained, it gets difficult to cover the expenses for the winning party by selling them... And regrettably, I cannot prevent wars among kingdoms and different settlements."

Louis also needed to keep the nobles' interests in check, or else it might bring difficulty for him to properly keep them in check.

Cyrandel nodded.

Right now, both Emperors were literally changing how their Empires would function in the coming future through casual talk, and it was all because of Leo and Lily.

"Next?"

"Second, you will provide as many resources to the kids as we provide, without reservation. Also, it will be their decision which race gets closer to them."

"Don't you think that's a bit unfair? They have been born and living among humans; naturally, there is a higher chance for them to be closer to you."

Louis shrugged.

"More reason for you to try and give them better than us, though I have heard they don't seem very attached or show patriotism to humans. That kid Leo seemed to be the type of person to work for the best of him; it doesn't matter if they are of a different race."

Aurex nodded at that.

"I can vouch for that; I received such intel."

After that, they talked for a long time and decided many things. But one thing was clear—

"Congratulations!" Aurex clapped his hands with a calm smile.

"Both of your races will soon have a God-Representative who can empower your people and give them strength for any future peril!"

"And hopefully..." Aurex smirked.

"They grow quickly enough for the coming Age of Gods."

"..."

---

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" A man shouted while staring at his life bracelet in disbelief.

Because 5 out of 24 small dots dimmed right in front of his eyes, one by one, as if getting knocked out by a bowling ball.

He was the leader of Azirith Grand Academy, the Red-Flame Dragon Academy whose students had just been defeated by Leo and the others.

In just a few minutes, the top 6, excluding him, had been wiped out. Meaning all of his team's main force had been defeated.

The remaining dragons couldn't even transform into their beast forms!

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Did they get ambushed by some other dragon academy?" The leader racked his brain, but every line of thought led to the first-ranked dragon academy—Aurex Dragon Academy.

"Damn it... Must be the prince's doing. How are we going to survive the coming days, then?" he muttered.

He looked up at the sky, where the timer was just about to end.

09:51:20

09:51:19

"Fuck..."

And soon,

00:00:10

00:00:09