Mess

Raymond was reluctant to leave this place. Here the atmosphere was not suffocatingly covered in mist and the fresh air was abundant.

The ever-present coldness of the forest was absent in the Inner Sanctum. A pleasant warmth spread throughout the area, making it an excellent place to live.

Now he understood why the elves chose to live in this place. The richness and surplus amount of mana far outweighed the cons of living in the middle of a dense forest.

"Young man, please leave," Elder Snowfang requested much to the chagrin of others.

For the first time in history, an intruder was leaving without a scratch. Most of the elves were unwilling to let this go and simply clenched their fists in frustration.

If only the High Priestess was here.

Suddenly, Raymond felt a chill run down his spine as if unwanted trouble was coming his way.

"Hey! Look, it's the High Priestess!" one of them called out while pointing towards the sky.

"Yes, the First Lady is right on time. Just you wait, scoundrel– she is going to teach you a lesson."

Elder Snowfang facepalmed as he heard that angry outburst.

Some people never learn.

"Look! The rest of the Elders are with her too!"

"Hah, that settles it. We did a good job by stalling for time. Now, he can't get away with his crimes."

Elder Snowfang perked up. Maybe they could put some pressure on the brat with a number advantage.

Who was he kidding? Elder Snowfang shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.

If they didn't handle this carefully, there might be no Elven Council by tomorrow.

It was in their best interest to send him away as peacefully as possible without any bloodshed.

"Elder Snowfang, what's up with all the commotion here?" Elder Silvershade landed along with others and asked.

"M-My Lord…" Celestia whispered in a trance, her gaze never leaving Raymond.

She was transfixed in place and unable to take a step further.

How long… for how long had she been waiting for this moment? It was nothing short of an eternity in her eyes.

The man she dreamed about since her adolescence, the man who plagued her thoughts every minute of the day was here— in front of her— in the flesh.

Celestia had to use every ounce of her willpower to hold back a scream. His sheer presence was completely overwhelming her to the point of suffocation.

The overflowing pressure he was subconsciously radiating was threatening to engulf her whole.

Celestia wanted nothing more than to drown in his aura. To let go of everything and bask in his greatness.

Her cheeks turned beet red as Raymond fixed her eyes on her, and looked her up and down as if judging her.

She felt nervous and started to take deep breaths in order to calm down.

What if he judged her unworthy? Celestia felt her mind going blank for a second before she came back to reality.

"My Lady?" She heard a voice next to her. "My Lady, are you alright?"

"Huh?" Celestia vocalised her stupor and blinked in confusion.

"My Lady, your eyes… they are shining!"

It was Elder Clearmoon, she realised, that was calling out to her.

Celestia massaged her temple and closed her eyes.

How embarrassing!

She didn't know when she had activated her ability, but she must have made a fool out of herself in front of him.

"Uh… yes, I am fine," Celestia opened her eyes and this time they were clear and sharper than before.

"Elder Snowfang," said Celestia, gathering the attention of everyone present with her enchanting voice. "Could you explain what happened here?"

Celestia followed Elder Snowfang's line of sight that alternated between Raymond and the corpse of Elder Barhawk and her face fell considerably upon guessing what must have happened.

They were fucked!

How did this happen? What went wrong?

Celestia had so many questions she wanted to ask, but first, she glared at the World Tree scathingly as if she was contemplating whether to directly set it on fire or chop it into firewood.

Either way, she was seriously considering burning down that damned tree.

"My Lady, I am not implying anything here but you must hear this young man's side of the story before taking any actions!" Elder Snowfang mistook Celestia's anger and hurriedly supplied her with a less violent suggestion.

"Nonsense! My Lady, don't listen to Elder Snowfang, he is unashamedly portraying us as incompetent to deal with this human and willing to forgive his crimes!"

"Yes, My Lady! This human here has killed not only Lord Elion, he even killed Elder Barhawk!"

"..."

Celestia couldn't even begin to imagine how to fix this mess. However, she wasn't the leader of such a powerful tribe for nothing. Her mind was already running a mile a minute to cook up something to stop the situation from escalating.

Seeing as her lord was smiling faintly, she couldn't help but want to pinch his cheeks and pull them playfully.

"Raymond Clover, son of the Clover Family from FireBorn Empire, I assume?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, yes, a female Ronan," Raymond chuckled mirthlessly.

He was starting to feel bad about causing a fight between Elder Snowfang and his tribesmen, but everything went out of the window as soon as he heard his full name.

These guys were spying on him and probably knew everything about him.

"Where is your scrying ball? Please show me I want to destroy it!" asked Raymond since the existence of such an artefact was the only thing that explained how they were spying on him without his knowledge.

"There is no such thing, My— ahem, Raymond," Celestia lied as the corner of her mouth quirked up in amusement. "We simply like to keep records on exceptional people on this Continent."

"Well, I am flattered that you think of me as someone exceptional but I must admit," continued Raymond crossing his arms. "It is annoying to know that you are always being watched by someone."

"That is true," Celestia nodded. "But I am afraid we will have to continue watching you for our own good."

"I see…" Raymond slowly took a step further and appeared before Celestia.

"Stop right there!" Elder Silvershade and Greenwood jumped into action and blocked him from getting into her personal space.

"My Lady, there is no point in arguing with this human. It is time for us to take action—"

-Make'em Vanish-

Raymond dusted off his hands as two silhouettes disappeared over the horizon.

"How about I save you the trouble of spying?" Raymond smiled.

"Ohh, how are you going to do that?" Celestia asked, intrigued.

"You don't have to watch me all the time if I stay here, do you?" Raymond replied, his eyes twinkling in merriment.

"What gall!"

It was Elder Clearmoon's turn to shout.

-Make'em Vanish-

"Quite bold, aren't you, Raymond?" It left a bad taste in her mouth to call him by the name. This was not how she was supposed to address him.

"What makes you think we will let you live peacefully here?"

Raymond simply snorted and pointed towards the World Tree.

"Haha, that's the funniest joke I've heard! Mother isn't someone you can use as your home!" Celestia laughed.

Raymond felt like she was giving him ideas. He wasn't thinking about turning the World Tree into his home. He just wanted to stay on one of its branches until the elves came to their senses and apologised for spying on him.

Sure enough, there was a door carved into the base of the tree.

'Isn't that where Vivian sneaked in before getting exiled?'

"Watch me!" Raymond growled and strode towards the World Tree.

"Haha, what are you going to do now? Knock on it and hope it will open up?" Celestia mocked.

-Knock! -Knock!

Raymond knocked on the door just as Celestia suggested.

Everyone watched with bated breaths as the seconds crawled at a snail's pace and right before their eyes, the door swung open abruptly.

""Heh?""

Raymond shot a wicked smirk at everyone, especially at Celestia, and walked inside the Sacred Chamber to become the first human to do so.

-Thud!

The door closed shut as if giving a tight slap across everyone's faces.

Elder Snowfang blinked several times and rubbed his eyes furiously.

'What the hell just happened?' He screamed internally.

"My-My Lady, what just happened?"

It seemed everyone was feeling the same as him.

Where was the punishment for killing Elder Barhawk and his son?

Where was the bloodshed?

"Why are you asking me? Didn't everyone witness what happened here?" Celestia stated dumbly. "He just entered the Sacred Chamber!"

"My Lady, this is preposterous! A human cannot be allowed in that place!"

"Yeah, this is simply unforgivable! First Lady, please kick him out!"

"He just threw three elders into the sky. Why don't you try kicking him out?" Celestia replied hotly but secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally, everything was under her control. Her lord was home and she was more closer to him than ever before and her people were momentarily subdued.

Things were looking good on her side.

"Celes!"

Celestia's still-forming smile froze and her body stiffened when that endearing name reached her ears.

Slowly, she moved her head mechanically and found her rival.

"V-v-Vivi!?"