Chapter 272 - Stepping On A Series Of Landmines
At the tea-table within the prince"s private courtyard, there was a period of silence as Leon readjusted his riled emotions.
During this time, Faelyn fiddled her fingers and feet nervously like a bad child who knew she had done something wrong and was waiting to be punished. Perhaps, she had gotten too comfortable and uttered some shocking things that should not be said normally.
The maids knew it was wrong, but they were caught off guard and failed to hold back their laughter. Leon could no longer hear their m.u.f.fled laughter, but their shoulders still shook from time to time.
"I"m so dead. I"m going to be punished for this." Was what the two maids were thinking when the prince glared at them.
"Anyway, the World Tree already has owners. If your tribe wants a place by the World Tree, you will have to consult them and not me. However, if you do not know the ancient language, then it"ll be difficult to negotiate since communication won"t be easy."
Leon was not sure how much knowledge from the basic language package the elder had absorbed, but it should not be that much. A language was not something that can be learned overnight.
Of course, this also only applies to normal people. A Transcendent"s learning speed was slightly faster than a normal person. As for Leon, his learning speed was over tenfold quicker than a normal person. It all had to do with the strength of one"s soul.
"The ancient language? I don"t know any ancient language."
"Then it will be difficult. You can wait until Elder Evergreen becomes proficient in the Gaian language before trying." Leon shrugged his shoulders. "Other than that, there isn"t many other choices. I don"t have the time to teach you the ancient language."
Faelyn"s eyes lit up when she minced over his words.
"But you do know the ancient language, right?"
"That"s right."
"Wow! That"s incredible! My tribe has a few relics and ancient texts, but none of our elders had been able to make any heads and tails out of it. How did you manage to decipher the language?"
"I"m a genius. I did it with this." Leon pointed to his own head and said shamelessly.
In a way, he was not lying. With his super-fast learning speed, he could be considered a genius at this point. However, he did not decipher the ancient language with his own efforts but inherited it from his previous life.
Nevertheless, Faelyn did not seem to doubt Leon as she totally believed him. Leon had shown her too many surprises.
"Incredible."
"Oh, you actually believe it?" Leon was intrigued.
"Should I not?" Faelyn asked with a confused look.
"No."
"That"s good then."
Leon was puzzled by Faelyn"s relieved expression and asked, "What"s good?"
"It"s good that I didn"t believe in vain. You should reward for it." Faelyn said.
Leon was immediately amused. He seemed to have understood where she was getting at and played along with a sly smile. "And what kind of reward do you want from me?"
"Teach me the ancient language!" Faelyn said with a hopeful gaze. Seeing Leon"s lips curving up into a big smile after what she said, she felt excited with rising antic.i.p.ation. There was a chance!
"No." Leon rejected flatly.
Faelyn was appalled and devastated like her hopes were dashed just like that. "What! Why??? That"s too cruel." Faelyn whined.
"I don"t have time." Leon chuckled.
As the onlookers, the palace maids felt like the prince and elven princess were almost flirting with each other. They glanced at each other incredibility and wariness and decided to keep their interaction with the prince to a bare minimum.
"As expected of the womanizing prince. His skills are off the charts. Even the elven princess was not spared."
If Leon could read their thoughts, he would have cried injustice!
"You don"t have time to teach me, but you have the idle time to chat?" Faelyn gave Leon the dirty look.
"This is not idle chat but an exchange of information, don"t you agree? I have been answering your questions for some time now. Don"t you think it"s you answer some of mine?" Leon stated while casually pouring himself a new cup of tea. He did not forget to do the same for Faelyn
Faelyn opened and closed her mouth several times before she grudgingly asks, "What do you want to know?"
"How much do you know about the Wildlands? I would like to know about the general division of strength between the tribes."
"Why do you want to know about that? Aren"t you interested in learning more about my tribe at all?" Faelyn raised an eyebrow.
They had been talking for so long, but Leon had been composed the entire time and moved by her beauty in the least. Was he not actually not interested in women? Faelyn gave Leon a peculiar look.
"Of course, I"m interested."
"Then why—"
"This is more important," Leon said firmly.
Faelyn did not know why, but she felt extremely uncomfortable hearing this, so much so that her gloomy aura could be felt as she gritted her teeth. Her tribe was not as important as the rest of the Wildlands, is that right?
"If the world is going to be hit by the second coming of the Cataclysm, the beasts will go wild and out of control. Don"t you think its reasonable that I would at least want to know what their strengths and numbers are, so the Human Domain could prepare for what"s to come?" Leon explained with a bit of speechlessness.
"Eh, you"re right. That makes sense." Faelyn felt better and giggled with a bit of awkwardness and shyness. What was wrong with her?
"Elvengarde only occupies one corner of the Wildlands so we don"t know too much about the whole situation. But generally, low-rank tribes are ruled by Transcendents at the Preliminary Accession stage or beasts with an equivalent level of strength and their population usually does not exceed 200,000."
"Mid-rank tribes like ours are ruled by a Transcendent at the Seeking Insight stage with a population ranging anywhere between 1 million to 2 million beasts and beastkins. As for High-rank tribes, they are ruled by Paragons with populations usually over 10 million."
Faelyn patiently explained. Leon was mentally prepared to hear some ridiculous numbers considering the sheer size of the Wildlands, but the numbers still shocked him deep. These were only the numbers for a single tribe of each rank.
"How many tribes are there?" Leon said drily.
"I"m not sure. There are too many low-rank tribes and mid-rank tribes." Faelyn shook her head. "But heard there are 12 high-rank tribes. And…"
"And?"
"This is just hearsay, but I heard there"s an even higher rank tribe than high-rank tribes called king-rank tribes. Supposedly there are four such tribes, each ruled by demiG.o.d-level existences that had taken half a step into divinity." Faelyn said hesitantly, unable to confirm the rumors.
Leon felt an unprecedented level of pressure at the revelation of such news, but he also sneered at the mention of demiG.o.d-level existences.
Faelyn was frightened by Leon"s att.i.tude. Does he look down on the demiG.o.d-level existences?!
"Careful! I heard that these demiG.o.d-level existences also possess powerful consciousness that could reach very distant lands." Faelyn warned.
"Didn"t you say that these were just rumors? Look how frightened you are."
"It"s still good to be careful, lest you accidentally court a calamity onto yourself. Hmph!"
Leon chuckled lightly, but he acknowledged her warning and no longer openly show his disdain.
Still, even the peak Divine Kings of the Divine Realm did not dare to claim that they have reached the level demiG.o.ds nor anywhere remotely close to it. Leon felt that these four so-call demiG.o.ds-level existences were quite audacious.
Hm?
Leon frowned as he entered a deeper level of thought. It might not be all that audacious. Celestials were existences capable of living as long as the sun and moon if they refine celestial bodies and become Celestial Rulers.
Even if they were not as powerful as True G.o.ds, they would have at least gained the lifespan of one. Putting it nicely, it was not farfetched to be called a demiG.o.d-level existence at the Half-step Celestial realm.
"Thank you, that was highly informative. I want to hear more about your elven tribe now."
"Hmph! Teach me the ancient language first." Faelyn made stand with her hands pressed on her hips. She had the look of one that would not yield unless he gave her what she wanted.
"You can join the cla.s.s that will be teaching the ancient language at Crawford Royal University." Leon smiled with a hint of craftiness.
"Will be?" There isn"t one yet?"
"Not yet, but there will be one. I still need to prepare the learning materials." Leon explained.
"Eh? Ah? Really? Wait no." Faelyn shook her head and recollected her thoughts. She was forgetting the point. "Why did you agree so easily?"
"You told me what I really wanted to know, so there"s no need for me to hold back my cards further."
Faelyn"s information on the Wildlands was much more detailed than the bit of information Lilith told him.
"Oh, so you were holding back for this reason." Faelyn frowned. "Why? Was I not being open enough?"
"That"s hard to say." Leon shrugged. "I gotta prepare my cards for the worse. Women can be quite unreasonable."
Boom…
It was like Leon"s word had set off a landmine as the palace maids looked at him with disapproving looks, while Faelyn felt especially riled. She felt Leon was implying that she was unreasonable. She did not hear the "can be" and only heard it as "women are unreasonable."
"You… Who did you say is unreasonable?" Faelyn gritted her teeth.
"Am I wrong?" Leon widened his eyes. "Are you telling me women don"t have double standards?"
Leon felt this was quite true from what he had seen from Amelia and her mother. Their treatment of their husbands was quite the contrast.
Unfortunately, he was looking from the wrong point of view and stepped on another landmine.
"Y-You… Ah… I"ll fight you!" Faelyn cried and immediately pounced on Leon like an angry cat.
Leon did not expect the elven princess to pounce of him and ended up getting tackled to the ground as Faelyn rained scratches on him.
"What are you doing?!"
"I"m fighting for the dignity of all women! Who did you say is unreasonable?! Who did you say have double standards?!"
"Y-You"re crazy!" Leon cussed.
Boom! Off went another landmine.
The things men should not say to women, Leon had said them, not once, not twice, but thrice! He was asking for trouble!
"Argh! You are driving me mad!"
Faelyn rained, even more, kicks and scratches on Leon. She was only a 7-star Ranked Awakener. Her strength could not break through the defense of Leon"s arms but the same was not be said for the rest of his body.
Leon had been going easy as she did not try to seriously injure him, but he began fighting back when she tried to bite him and aim for his face! Things got heated!
He grabbed both her wrists and flipped over to be on top and pressed her to the ground.
"Let go of me!"
"No! You will just try scratching me again!"
The two palace maids had long run off to report. They did not like what Leon said either, but a fight between the prince and elven princess was a serious issue that could cause a diplomatic fallout!
"My son, what"s going on?"
The king"s voice was heard as his head popped around the corner and froze. Leon and Faelyn also froze when they looked at the king. Their clothes were messy, and their position was quite ambiguous.
"Oh… Ahem, hohoho… I seemed to have come at a bad time. Don"t mind me, please continue on with your business." Heinrich coughed awkwardly and left after giving Leon a meaningful look.
Leon and Faelyn glanced back at each other, clearly dismayed by the situation and quickly separated.