11 A Step Towards the Right Direction

"How do you know about the temple?" Dina asked the same line of question again.

"Let's just say I know many things I shouldn't. But that is not the point." Marcius answered.

"Then what is?" Karla cut his answer off with her own input.

"The point is that I'm your ally. Not the enemy. Look, I'm offering to take the trial so that if I succeed, you will be free of your oath to guard the temple and the forest."

"As if you would succeed." The girl scoffed. "If anyone can succeed the trial, we wouldn't have to spend a long time guarding the place."

"I wouldn't call 3,000 years that long. Especially with cultivation." He replied with a smirk.

"How do you even know that?" was Karla's heated reply.

"Like I said, I know things."

Marcius's smile at the end was taunting.

"And what is stopping us from using magic to mess with your mind and makes you forget the 'things' you 'knows.'" The girl fired back in return. "Like you said, we have magic."

"And like I said, I know you have magic. Do you really think I don't have a backup plan for that?" He replied easily.

"Look, I don't understand why are you even against this. I will take the test. I succeed, you will be freed of your oath. I fail, you won't even lose a thing. It is a win-win either way." Marcius pressed on.

"Do you think we would just allow strangers into our sacred temple easily? We are the guardians! We guard the temple." Karla replied, raising to her feet again.

"We will let you take the trial." Dina interrupted whatever Karla's angry reply was.

"But mother!"

Karla started to protest, but one look from her mother quietened her down.

"Karla will guide you to the temple. When will you be taking the trial?"

"Wait, did you just divine my future?"

Marcius asked suspiciously as he noted the fading yellow light from lady Sabbargh's eyes.

"I did. And from what I saw, I hope I'm making the right decision now."

Dina replied while pointedly looking at Karla, as if daring her to protest any further.

"Well, I'm actually counting on you to divine my future. It will make things easier. And, about the trial, your daughter will have to accompany me on my expedition."

"What expedition?"

This time, Karla asked warily.

"I was tasked to build an outpost at the edge of the forest. Our city is expanding." He smiled.

"So, you are, indeed, planning to intrude into our forest!" The girl shouted back in reply.

"After I finished the trial, you won't even need to stay in the forest anymore."

"But my daughter words run true. Whether or not we are guarding the place due to an oath, it is still our forest. We would like to know your plans to build an outpost near our home." Lady Sabbargh gave her opinion with narrowed eyes.

Marcius sighed. His cheerful yet sarcastic tone vanished, as he looked towards the two women seriously.

"I know you would be reluctant to leave the forest even after fulfilling your oath. It was your home for the last 3,000 years after all. And that is why I would like to propose an alliance."

"We are listening."

*** *** ***

"Mother, why did you agree to let the Aemilia heir take the trial? Does his future really look that promising?"

Karla asked her mother after Marcius left the guild building.

"You assume correct."

Laday Sabbargh confirmed as she remembered the vision she received when she divined the boy's future. She felt shivers ran down her whole being whenever she thought back about the vision.

She was in the middle of an open field. But if she looked to her left and right, the two sides bore different features. One side was prospering with rich grass fields and mountains made of gold. The sky was also clear with bright sun rays lighting up the entire field. But the other side looked the complete opposite. The field looked dead with dark patches of grass here and there. The mountains were litter with corpses. And the sky was covered with red clouds.

But that was not what gave her shivers. It was the two men standing in the middle of the two completely different fields.

One wore majestic silver armor with a black sword in one hand and a flag in another. The flag bore the ancient symbol which represented the entire Rubrum. He also wore elegant golden crown on his head. He looked like an ancient king who ruled the entire world.

The other one wore a simple clothing of black shirt and pants. And he had a single sword in his hand. The sword was a devilish looking curve sword with blood dripping from it. He also had shining scarlet eyes. The worst part was the mountain of corpses he was standing on. If the other one looked like an ancient king, this one looked like an ancient demon from people's greatest nightmare.

Both men were also very powerful. They were more powerful than anything Dina had ever seen. And she had seen a lot.

Both of their auras alone could make Dina felt suffocated. They were like great mountains bearing down on Dina's shoulders.

And both of them had the same facial features.

They both looked like Marcius.

Dina held in another shiver threatening to erupt from her body.

"That boy could be the salvation or destruction of the entire Rubrum."

*** *** ***

Marcius was happy as he walked back from Blue Start Trade Guild.

After he proposed the alliance offer, he could see that Dina was seriously considering it. But in the end, she told Marcius that an alliance and any other offers could be discuss after and if he succeeded the trial. But Marcius was fine with that. It was a huge win for him that Dina was even considering it.

And he knew Dina had the authority to accept or deny any offers on the behalf of her village.

They even ended up discussing the terms for buying the formula of 'green blood.' It was decided that the Blue Star Trade Guild would buy the right to produce and sell 'green blood' from Aemilia Clan, on the condition that the profits would be split six to four, with the larger half going to the guild. But the Blue Star Trade Guild would have to provide 5,000 bottles of 'green blood' to Aemilia Clan, free of charge each month.

Those were favorable terms for his clan and Marcius was fine with it.

Talking about favorable terms, he also rememberrd the conversation he had with his grandfather about the expedition.

*** *** ***

"Is this also the idea of your 'master?'" Titus asked.

"No grandfather. It was my idea. I wanted to go on the expedition."

Marcius replied and pointed at the city map in front of them.

"As you may know, grandfather, the city was exceeding the limit of population it can house."

He pointed at a certain area of the city.

"The slum area had doubled in size during the last five years. Most of the citizens of Mediolan are suffering from a lack of housing and jobs. The signs are clear. We need to expand our city or there will be serious population problems in a few years."

"Then we will just repurpose a number of buildings to house the extra population, like we always had." Marcius's father added from the side.

The three of them were discussing the matter of expedition Marcius brought up.

"It won't work, father. We are also running out of buildings to transform into housing areas. The lower industrial zones were already small as they were. The same could be said for commercial zones. If we take out anymore buildings from those zones, there will be job problems instead of population ones. That will leave us with clans' lands, which we cannot touch for numerous reasons." He countered.

"I agree with the fact that we have to expand the city." Titus said. "But how would this expedition be different than the others we sent years prior and failed?"

"The last expeditions were focused on clearing out the forest. And only then they planned to establish an area of expansion. It obviously failed for a couple of reasons. First of all, they underestimated the number of demon beasts in the forest. And without a proper base to fall back into, they were more exposed to ambushes and surprise attacks."

The last expeditions also failed because of the guardians of the forest. But his grandfather and father didn't need to know that.

"But I plan to establish an outpost first and try to clear out the forest later. That will give us a strong base of operation while also providing the extra housing area faster." He explained his plan.

"Umm… the plan has merit. What do you think Marcus?" Titus asked his son-in-law.

"That could work, father. And Marcius, I think you would want to lead this expedition?" He asked.

Marcus was starting to see his son in a new light.

It was probably because his rapidly increasing strength and brilliant strategies. He started to see Marcius as a valuable asset.

"Yes, father. I would like to gain experience and achievement."

"Then, I'll approve the plan and put you in charge of the expedition." His grandfather replied.

"Oh, and Marcius,"

"Yes grandfather?"

"Do not let me down."

"I won't, grandfather. I promise."

*** *** ***

Marcius was thinking back on the conversation he had with his grandfather and father, as he slowly walked back to the lord's keep with happy steps and whistling a soft tone.

"Oh, look who do we have here? Isn't it the 'talented' heir of Aemilia clan?"

He heard a loud mocking voice. It took him a while to recognize that the voice was directed at him.

As he looked back, he saw a small group of teens the same age as him, wearing expensive clothes.

Then, it took him even longer to realize that this is a typical bullying scene from the cultivation novels.

"Wait, what the f**k?"

*** *** ***

Author Notes

Hello again! It's MidnightMK!

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