Chapter: 24 - Lucira Albert
Venhorst Territory
John thought for a long time about what he should do, he had no favoritism between the two regions, all he wanted was to finish quickly in a way that satisfied both parties, but there was nothing he could do or give.
The root of the problem was not the golden hummingbird, this was just a means by which the two regions found to have access to the evolution institutes, John now has to find a way for both regions to have access to the institute, but this was more difficult than simply offering the hummingbird to one of the regions so that they could obtain a place through the completion of the mission.
John looked at the leaders and said, "Clan matriarch, tribal chief, you may leave for now. Clear the battlefield, care for the wounded, and give the dead a proper burial. I will have a satisfactory answer for you in three days. Until then, none of your regions are allowed to cause trouble."
The two leaders didn't look pleased; their displeasure was evident just by looking at their faces, but neither dared to speak. "Young lord, we will leave this matter in your hands. I trust the young man will be impartial in his judgment. As soon as we receive his response in three days, we will resume foreign trade operations," Kassandra said with a sly glint in her eyes.
Kassandra made it clear between the lines that she would only resume trade operations with Novo Redondo and the rest of the territory once John resolved his issues, Bárbara also made a similar statement stating that she would resume trade after John's verdict.
— We say goodbye then — John said as he stood up, the two leaders Barbara and Kassandra bowed and together with the woman who brought the hummingbird left the tent.
Felicia, as they came, used the same process to carry Isa and John flying in a yellow beam of light towards Venhorst Castle on the plains.
***
Ngola City.
In the capital of the kingdom, right in the center of the city, before the royal family's district, there were three imposing and ancient castles, these belonged to the three great families, the castle further south of the city belonged to the Albert family.
Albert Castle.
In the castle's catacombs lay a hidden laboratory the size of a football stadium. Numerous arrays surrounded the entire laboratory, isolating it from the outside world. Numerous cocoons hung from the ceiling, and many machines connected the cocoons with intertwined tubes. In the center of the laboratory stood a giant array. Above it stood a giant box measuring two point five meters on all sides. The box was translucent, revealing its interior. A girl of about eight years old sat inside the box, hugging her knees.
The girl was dressed in shabby clothes, she had red hair, her eyes were a faint red, occasionally she moaned from the cold inside the box there were only particles of the water element concentrated forming ice crystals, the giant matrix dispersed the other elements and fortified the concentrated water element, the temperature inside the box was close to absolute zero.
The giant matrix imbued vitality and spiritual energy, forcing the girl's body to survive in this extremely cold environment.
Shatter.
A test tube was thrown against the wall by a man wearing a white lab coat, the man looked at the girl inside the box and swore angrily, after a while he forced himself to calm down.
A light shone in an array in the corner of the laboratory and two female figures took shape, both were beautiful women, one younger and the other older, the older one wore shabby clothes, an ancient dress by the standards of the kingdom, blue eyes with a dull glow, ice blue hair, skin white as snow, she looked like a piece of carved white jade.
As soon as she took form, she ran towards the box and, as if she were intangible, crossed the box and hugged the girl inside. It seemed as if she wanted to transmit some of her body heat to the girl. The girl looked at the woman and spoke with white steam coming out of her mouth. "Mom." She leaned back in the woman's arms.
The younger woman looked to be between sixteen and eighteen years old, her eyes and hair color were a vivid red, her figure was slender, even with few curves, her youthful beauty rivaled that of Catarina.
The girl walked over to the man, smiled, and said, "Hello, Dad, how's the research going? " The man smiled back and said, "Still no results. A component to reverse elemental nature is missing."
"Father, have you ever considered changing your elemental nature from fire to darkness?" the girl asked. "I've considered changing it to darkness, but the results are unsatisfactory. If we change it this way, we'll only become half-demons of hellish flames."
"Father, isn't a Hellfire Demon better than the Flame Raven King's bloodline?" the girl asked. The man smiled and said, "You're right, but a full-fledged Hellfire Demon can only reach the fourth level, and I, Leonel Albert, won't leave one crossroads to enter another. I feel our chance lies with this mother-daughter pair." Lionel said, pointing to the mother-daughter pair embracing inside the box.
"We only need an energy that changes the elemental nature of the evolutionary core without causing any repercussions. According to my studies, the Flame Raven King's elemental arts will be strengthened by at least double their power . " The girl was surprised by what Lionel said, and asked excitedly, "Father, does that mean … " Lionel interrupted her, saying, "Yes, daughter, once our elemental nature is altered, not only will we free ourselves from the shackles of bloodline, but our combat power will also increase greatly."
The girl was enchanted. Lionel looked at his daughter and asked, "Did you just come to bring this woman, or is there something else you came here for?" When the girl heard Lionel's question, something occurred to her. She nodded and said, "Yes, Father, er, I came to tell you that a lord has scheduled an audience with you tomorrow."
"A lord?" Lionel asked. "Yes, a lord of the territory," the girl stated. "Who would that lord be?" The girl thought for a moment and said. "It's Lord Venhorst," the girl declared. "Oh! Lord Venhorst, Ferdinand Venhorst!" Lionel exclaimed. The girl looked at her father and asked, "Father, do you know him?" "Yes, I know him. I owe him a debt. It's good that he's coming to claim it. I don't like owing people anything."
***
The next day.
Venhorst Territory.
In the castle's living room, Catarina, Felícia and John were having breakfast , but John seemed a little absent. Catarina looked at her son and asked: — What is it, John? You seem a little distant, what's worrying you?
John sighed and said as he looked at Catarina and Felícia — Tomorrow the leaders will see the Matriarch of the Water Clan and the Chief of the Barbara Bo Tribe, to hear my verdict, and I still haven't thought of anything to appease them — John took a few bites, while Catarina said with a smile on her face.
— You don't need to worry, I believe something will happen to you soon — Catarina spoke confidently, John felt better — well , I hope so — John spoke a little calmer.
"Mom, regarding the vacancy at the institute, how many people can a lord nominate?" John asked, looking at his mother. "Why do you ask, my son? Do you want to know if you can take Isa with you?" Catarina said with a smile.
"Yes, but there are a few more I'd like to take," John explained everything that had happened with the Water Clan and the Barbarian Bo tribe, just as he intended to do. "Seriously! For a golden hummingbird, you're willing to give up two of your spots. If I'm not mistaken, a western lord would be willing to give up one of his spots for the golden hummingbird," Catarina said.
"Actually, it has nothing to do with the golden hummingbird or the parking spaces. I just thought it would be the best way to resolve this conflict between the two regions," John explained. "So, you'll have to talk to your father, but I don't think he'll mind you taking up two more parking spaces." Catarina said, still smiling. John smiled back and said, "Now that I remember, my father hasn't given me my birthday present yet. I'll take these two parking spaces as such."
Catarina stopped smiling and asked, confused, "Where's the golden hummingbird?" Hearing Catarina's question, Felicia stood up and said, "I'm going to leave now, I have something to do." Felicia didn't wait for their response, simply letting those words hang in the air and rushing out. John seized the moment to leave and said, "Mom, I'm going to leave now too. Alex and Isa must be waiting for me." Catarina nodded and said, "Okay, go meet your friends."
John gave his mother a big kiss and left.
Now that John was better informed about the institute's openings, he was more at ease dealing with the water clan and the Barbarian Bo tribe. According to their agreement, there was still one day left before the two leaders would meet with him.
John wanted to talk to Alex a little about his visit to the Water Clan and the Barbara tribe.
***
Lucira Albert, a 9-year-old girl, her father Leonel Albert the greatest researcher of the Ngola kingdom, her mother Maísa Frost, regarding her mother, Lucira knew nothing, this is because since she could remember her mother never said a single word, her mother Maísa occasionally smiled and took care of her.
Her father Leonel Albert said that she was born with a serious illness that would take her life at the age of 10. Lucira did not fear death, but that does not mean that she was willing to die without complaining.
The Albert family has the lineage of the golden crow, the King of Flames, depending on the purity of the lineage, when a member of the family reaches 10 years of age with the secret family ritual the individual gives rise to a core of flames, becoming a warrior mage of the flame lineage, being able to use the power of the golden crow, the king of flames.
Lucira inherited from her father Leonel Albert the lineage of the golden crow, the King of flames, it would be good if she only had this inheritance in her body.
Maísa, Lucira's mother , is probably from a faraway place, she is part of a powerful matriarchal clan called the daughters of the snow goddess, the members of the clan are blessed with the sacred body of the snow goddess, a very powerful body in the ice attribute, as expected Maísa passed the body of the snow goddess to her daughter Lucira.
Since the day Lucira was born, her lineage of the golden crow, the King of Flames, has been fighting with her body of the snow goddess. The fire element and the water element have made her body chaotic. If it weren't for Leonel Albert, her father, Lucira would have died a long time ago.
From a very early age, Leonel has used all kinds of resources to prolong Lucira's life in order to buy more time to find a cure for his daughter.
The water element and the fire element cannot cohabit in the same body under the form of bloodline, the ice attribute body and the fire attribute core rejected each other, when Lucira awakens her core of the Golden Crow King of Flames, the rejection would cost her life.
The only way for her life to be saved is to alter the elemental nature of the fire core about to awaken. If the elemental nature were different from the fire element, Lucira would have a chance to survive.
Throughout her life, Lucira only had contact with three people, her father Leonel Albert, her mother Maísa and her half-sister who occasionally visited the laboratory. Her father and sister taught her everything about the world outside her box in the laboratory. In other words, even though she lived her whole life in a laboratory, Lucira had above-average knowledge compared to people her age.
Since Lucira couldn't leave the laboratory, she spent a lot of her life learning from her father and half-sister . From her father she learned magical knowledge, matrices, magic circles and scrolls, from her half-sister she learned history, geography, etiquette and general knowledge.
A giant matrix fed a translucent box, in the box a girl was sitting hugged by her mother, the girl was Lucira and her mother Maísa.
Leonel Albert took a book of elementary knowledge, he covered his body with a layer of flames, walked inside the box, stroked Lucira's hair and gave the book to her, he looked at Maísa with a complicated look and withdrew from the box, leaving the two inside.
A light flashed and a girl took shape in the corner of the laboratory, the girl was the same as before, Lucira's half sister , she walked up to Leonel Albert, she glanced at the mother and daughter pair inside the box.
"Hello, Father," Leonel Albert looked at his daughter and said, "Oh, what's wrong?" The daughter looked at her father and said, "Lord Fernando is here, he's upstairs." Leonel nodded, "Okay, let's go." The father-daughter pair disappeared in a flash of light into the teleportation matrix.
Continued...