The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 902: Sanctuary and Eldoris

There was no time to waste thinking about things he could no longer change. Even if his second chance at life had more malice behind it than miracle, it was still his own life.

His choices were still his own. At the end of the day, it’s more than most people are blessed with.

Damian activated the receiver and asked the last group to come. The daylight already suggested hints of early evening. After saying yes to the Eldoris group, the elves might need to do some preparations of their own as well.

Vidalia, Ilvanya, and Tristan were the three he already knew. The group of five had one middle-aged man dressed in a mage’s robe and one old man with a white beard and hair. The first introduced himself as the paramour of the lady Ilarin (The Cousin of Vidalia, Queen’s Shadow) and the second as the elder of the royal court.

Damian had seen both before, but just didn’t know their names, or probably just didn’t bother to remember. He had heard someone mention that the elves take at least one male companion every half-century to continue their bloodline. Even the queen was not spared. These partners rarely had official rank; they were only known as paramours.

Once in a while, the relationship was truly a loving one though, and the elves married the man. Humans barely lived over 150 years as second-rankers. And skilled warriors rarely died naturally.

Apparantly elf reproduction was a very tedious process. One-night stands did not work; only a loving relationship had a good chance of bearing children. But that was the thing, losing one loving partner and then trying to replace him centuries after centuries.. it gets wearisome.

Love was a touchy subject for elves.

No pun intended.

“Lord Keeper,” Ilvanya addressed him with a smile.

Unlike the empire and Faerunia, Eldoris and their goddess were much closer to one another. The queen was personally chosen by Astraea for a conversation recently. And she had shared that with her trusted inner circle. Just this much showed the difference.

The emperor might have no idea at all what was happening, and Faerunian rule was in a delicate time of change.

“Lady Ilvanya,” Damian nodded in acknowledgement.

“First of all, we would like to convey the message of our maker.” The old geezer said,

“Princess Evrin will never be harmed through the divine hands. It’s been a while since the divine blessed us with her presence. Princess Evrin was not told about her duties. In fact, even the queen and Lady Vidalia were also only told recently by Lady Ilvanya.”

“Still, Evrin does not consent to this manipulation. We can never be sure. What’s to say she won’t use her again to kill or spy on us again?” Einar raised her voice slightly.

Even if Einar herself had a blessing of Astraea, her faith did not shadow her love for Evrin.

“Everything the Eldorians have is a blessing from Astraea herself. In exchange, she only rarely uses us as her avatars. What’s so wrong with that?” Ilvanya eyed Einar, the intensity palpable.

“Not Evrin. Never Evrin!” Einar gritted her teeth.

Both transcendents stared at each other, then their heads turned towards Damian.

“Goddess Astraea respectfully will never use Evrin as a vessel. But if I become her follower, she can instead talk to me if something needs to be done in Sanctuary.” He said.

“So you agree to become her follower?” Vidalia asked, her eyes revealing hints of surprise.

“If the offer is good enough. The Sun God just offered me a position as the ruler of the entire mainland.” Damian replied in a most unanthuastic voice ever.

“A puppet ruler, if you become one at all,” Ilvanya replied.

The whole Eldoris group nodded as if the truer words were never spoken.

The elder took out a scroll from his long sleeves. It had the seal of the royal Eldorian house.

The queen’s offer.

“These are the words of our queen. But the guiding hand behind it is that of our goddess.”

Damian read the letter. It was a fairly standard deal. He will become a follower of Astraea. Sanctuary will never raise arms against Eldoris. All religions will be welcomed in the Sanctuary as it always has, but Eldoris’ people will receive special privileges in spreading the words of Astraea. An additional Sanctum head representing Eldoris.

In return, Damian will receive a decent blessing from Astraea. Sanctuary will maintain its government system. If any country raises an army against Sanctuary, Eldoris will always come to help. Damian will have a prominent position in Eldoris Queen’s inner circle.

No mention of dungeons or resource sharing meant it was all up for a future business deal. More than Astraea, it felt like a deal offered by the queen herself.

It was good enough. Just a few changes were needed.

After a lengthy two hours of negotiations, the deal was shaped something like this;

Everything from above. Except that the sanctum head representing Eldoris will never be considered for the Keeper’s position. Dungeon share will be 50-50 percent for half a year. Fifty percent of all dungeons present in Sanctuary or the ones used by the public will remain in control of Eldoris for six months. Same for fifty percent dugeons in Eldoris.

The control, however, only meant the profit share and Sanctuary using the Eldoris dungeons for public use. Eldoris may have to talk to their nobles. But the profit of over 50% active public dungeons present in Sanctuary’s control going directly into the royal treasury was motivation enough.

More than profit, it will shift the major power and wealth onto the royal family. Giving them better control over their nobles.

Damian added an additional condition that in times of war, transcendents from both countries will vote on who is better suited to lead them. In times of war use of waygates will be discussed by the joint war council and the chosen leader. The present Keeper, whoever that may be, or the present elf queen.

In addition, all new land and dungeons discovered by Sanctuary will remain in full control of Sanctuary. But every year, Sanctuary will have to open 5-10% of newly discovered dungeons to the public, which indirectly will be in Eldoris’ control for half a year.

The Eldoris group returned to their country using a waygate to inform their queen of the agreed conditions. An official event will be held a week from this day, but tonight, Damian, all sanctum heads were invited to have dinner at Eldoris’ palace. It will be a gathering of all prominent figures from the two countries to celebrate the official partnership.

Of course, that was just an excuse. The real purpose of the small event was for Damian to swear his allegiance to the Goddess Astraea.

Finally, all meetings had ended. The preparation for the Eldoris visit still needed to be done, but for a few precious hours, Damian had peace.

Which lasted for exactly twenty minutes before his office was swarmed by Sam, Einar, Souldealer, Lucian, and Torwin. Damian did not say a word laying down on the couch and simply handed the documents he had prepared with the Eldoris group for signing a mana contract. It had all the details.

Damian had already asked his five assistants to make several copies. It was too important to hand over to Sanctum officials for typing in the Sanctum receiver channel.

“Are we sure this doesn’t violate the peace treaty?” Torwin murmured while turning the pages, seated in one of the guest chairs.

Lucian and Souldealer were on either side of the couch’s padded additional chairs. Einar was leaning against the translucent wall. Sam sat beside Torwin in guest chairs.

“As long as the countries remain independent and the borders don’t change,” Damian replied with the line that was repeated in the negotiations again and again.

“What was that dead and reborn thing?” Souldealer asked, her face looked conflicted. Deservingly so.

Sam and Lucian suddenly sat upright, staring at Damian, who still had his eyes closed on the couch. But when they entered, Damian had noticed the red and gold mana threads attached to Souldealer and Einar’s heads.

“When I was five years old, a sudden accident almost killed me. Before that day, I only had 2 INT in my status. The Sunblades had already sold me to the Goldilocks for some land and money. I don’t know how, but my father summoned a mysterious mage from somewhere. I have searched for that figure in all of mainland, and found it nowhere.”

Damian paused and opened his eyes, looking at all present around him.

“The mage healed me with some weird spell. But it wasn’t just healing; I received some skills and knowledge that transcended my young age. A gift from the mage. But something had gone wrong. The blessing of the Sun God was gone, and I had become Godless. I did not become a follower of any religion after that; my status was all kinds of weird. It took a long time for me to level up; my ascension trials were near impossible. But I noticed the jobs I received were all rare ones.”