"The Third Prince is right… Paladin.." Everyone in the room seconded Leon's words.
They looked at Eli worriedly. Now that she had revealed her existence she had no choice but to take the role of the Paladin.
The Paladin was a title given to a person whom the heavens themselves directly ordained, in most cases, through the Oracle. Their rank lies in between the High Priest and the Captain of the Temple Knights and so the Paladin could be considered as the second-highest authority in a temple, next to the High Priest.
But unlike the priests and the temple knights, conferred paladins were not required to pledge their loyalty to any temple in Prasinos, not even the main temple.
Aside from the rank being directly bestowed by the heavens and not the Temple (by means of stringent selection and training process), some paladins are only called for a specific purpose, sometimes, their missions had to be fulfilled not on their own homeland but on another. This meant that the Temple in the local area could not force the Paladin to stay within their vicinity when his fulfillment lay on another land.
This was the reason why High Priest Enoch previously assured Emperor Valentin that they would not take Eli away and keep her in the temple. It was because of the very nature of the Paladin rank.
"I know…" Eli replied gently but the sense of responsibility had already been well embraced by her. "We still need to think of a way to solve the shortage problem nevertheless…"
"For now, we can stall the deterioration process with the normal cure potion, but we would still need the supreme grade as soon as tomorrow…" Kayden concluded his evaluation.
"One more thing…" High Priest Enoch interjected as he looked at Eli with a serious expression. "I am sure that someone from Lord Raven's side was watching the events unfolding in the capital…"
"Hmmm… Indeed, thinking back… I also wondered why he started this chaos and let it end with his pawns losing in vain… It seems like, at one point he decided not to…" Mishael's brows furrowed in deep contemplation.
The rest in the room also fell into deep contemplation. They were figuring out their enemy's thinking.
But with Mishael's coupled with the extent of evil that the Vesalas were willing to do to the Empire, then it is more likely that Lord Raven sacrificed his pawns to weaken the empire and force Eli to reveal herself.
"We need not be thinking so hard about this…" High Priest Enoch woke them up into their thinking and continued, "What I had in mind was to let the enemy think that the Paladin was someone that is not from here…"
"Esteemed High Priest… you mean…" Everyone's eyes widened and looked at the High Priest, who ironically was the one devising a plan to fool the enemy.
"Yes… we will put on a show to make the enemy believe that she is from another land…" The High Priest rubbed his long beard as his eyes gleamed in wisdom. "This way, our Empire will have time to breathe… hopefully until the Imperial Family stabilizes the powers and the Temple completes their preparation to fight the curses."
—
The meeting shortly ended and Eli finally had time to breathe.
She ran, crawled, and flew all over the Empire all night to set up the grand array that helped the empire achieve victory.
However, for her… the task she did could just be considered as puny as compared to countless knights who fought to their deaths until she intervened.
She was absentmindedly walking into the hallway, when a warm, calloused hand suddenly held hers, halting her movements.
"Where are you heading too?" The voice she hadn't heard for a long time was finally warming up her ears. She finally heard Leon's voice after a while.
Eli looked at Leon with warm loving eyes. They have not seen each other for a few days so she was surprised to realize that he missed him so much after seeing him today.
'So this is what it feels like to have a lover…' She thought in her heart.
In her previous life, she would frown and cringe whenever her colleagues would lament how they were not able to see or talk to their boyfriends in just a matter of days. She thought that they were immature and they were too clingy.
However, now she fully understood. It doesn't have anything to do with being immature or clingy.
It is just because their hearts found home to their significant other. And as a person goes on to his or her busy life, at some point, they would long for the respective homes that gave them comfort with all the things going on around.
To Eli, Leon's existence was like that.
"I wanted to find a place to relax as I could still feel my nerves tense because of what recently happened…" Eli finally answered Leon's query.
"Alright… how about tea in the cottage?" Leon asked. He knew what Eli meant.
Weakening the paladin's uniform was nerve-wracking for her and she needed time to pause and take off the 'heavy' uniform.
But the temple was not in a good shape and with the mastermind still unknown, undisguised Eli would be in danger at the moment.
So the safest thing to do was to go to a different location.
"But is the cottage intact?" Eli asked Leon with surprise in her tone.
The extent of the battle was widespread and there was no guarantee that the Forgeworn estate was left unscathed, much less their tiny little cottage.
"I will not allow our home to be damaged…" Leon looked at Eli with a smile, holding her hands as he led her to the teleportation array.
"I apologize for not discussing with you ahead of time, but I moved to temporarily bring back our home to the Silverdew forest…" Leon replied with a sheepish tone.
"Eh… EHHHH!!!" Eli couldn't help but be surprised, even without a mask, Leon could imagine her shocked face and widened obsidian eyes…
"Ahhh… you never told me!!" Eli was so surprised that her hands froze in the air and stopped her tracks.
The next moment she looked at Leon who had already taken a few more steps before running to catch his figure with her hands raised in an action to lightly 'hit' his back.
"Why didn't you tell me!!! I should have gone there to sleep when I was there!!!" Her seemingly annoyed voice rang in the halls of the underground passageway.
"Ehrmmm… I'm sorry…" Leon let out a smile that was a bit teasing. His mind couldn't help but lament that Eli was wearing her mask, or else he could see her annoyed expression over his unintentional prank.
But nonetheless… the lips of the two were smiling and their hearts were full of gratefulness, thanking the heavens that they have survived and have the time to bicker like this.
Even as they reached the cottage, Eli was still wearing a sulky expression in her mouth as she wordlessly prepared the tea for the two of them.
Leon could only sigh helplessly and hug her from behind. They have already taken their respective showers and have thoroughly washed off the scents of the battle they have just conquered.
"I'm really sorry…" He softly whispered behind her ears… his nose inhaled the rose scent that she used.
It was sweet and intoxicating… adding to the longing that he felt ever since he had laid her eyes on her majestic figure descending from the sky.
"I didn't want you to get the impression that we are anticipating a fight on a great scale, that's why I kept it a secret. I know you would be worried to death." In between his breath, he whispered his heart out, baring all his emotions and thought processes for Eli to understand.
His body moved closer to hers when he felt that Eli was not resisting his actions. He closed her eyes and buried his head down into her neck, the tip of his lips brushing lightly into her skin.
"I know… I am just surprised…" Eli was immediately electrified by Leon's weakening actions. She lifted her hand and touched his head, caressing it gently.
"Just a little bit more work… and our family will finally be at peace…" Leon tightened his hug on her waist and pressed his lips gently into Eli's fair neck.
"Uhn…" Eli closed her eyes and let out a hum… as her neck started to heat up because of Leon's breath. That was especially seen when his soft moist lips landed on her sensitive skin.
It was like waves of electricity, firing into her body, making her unable to resist his actions.
However… Before they could move further, there was an unexpected knocking on their humble cottage doors. The two looked at each other as if they were not expecting someone to know their whereabouts.
"Yoooohoooo!!! love birds~~"
"Come and greet your great awesome coolest Zale here!!!"
