As the banquet was finished, the guests were either escorted to their rooms to take a rest or went on a stroll in the gardens.
Ouyang Zen, however, didn't have the time to rest. He has to travel to the port to launch the warships and then unveil the new statue of his late father built in the heart of the city.
After that, he will have to return to the royal palace where the presentation ceremony will take place. All the guests who participated in the banquet will present their gifts to the birthday boy.
Only then he could finally take a nap.
The teenage king and his guardian were out with the dwarven king and Prince Qin Zhi tagged along with him due to their curiosity about the Kidd-class warship. One wanted to inspect its technology and the other wanted to see if they were worth buying too.
Mark took this opportunity to talk with the general of the Leon Empire.
Seeing that he was trying to talk with him since morning, Mark took out the LMV Iveco and asked him to sit beside him, and drove outside of the palace with an excuse of just touring the city.
No one is there to question him and neither knew him well enough to suspect his actions either. Perhaps, the only thing that soldiers were curious is the LMV. It was so out of the place that it naturally attracts attention.
As he was slowly driving on a sturdy concrete road and the general was looking around in curiosity, Mark opened up the topic. "So, General Fan, tell me. You said you have something to talk about, involving the fate of the Western Yan."
The general turned serious as he nodded, "Yes, I do. You must have heard of the Church of Nuwa."
"Yeah, I heard that the Church is the ally of the Ji clan and considered the guardian of the Western Yan, well, atleast its branch there," replied Mark while carefully choosing his words. He doesn't want to reveal that he had already killed its archbishop and intended to demolish them very soon.
General Fan then took a deep breath and said, "The Church of Nuwa has its branches all over the world and each branch has a cardinal overseeing the region. Below him, there will be three Arch-Bishops carrying out his orders. Every cardinal is usually a 7-circle realm expert and every archbishop will be in a 6-circle realm.
Of course, there are also elite fighters who don't preach to the people but just take the jobs like adventurers.
Anyways, coming to the point, the current cardinal of the Church of Nuwa's Western Yan branch is a 20-year-old young man named Shi En."
"Shi?" Mark instantly recognized the surname. "Is he a member of the royal family? A prince?" He asked.
The General nodded with a bitter smile, "Yes, he was originally a prince. His mother isn't a human but a species called Elf."
"Elf?" Mark was taken aback at once. He couldn't help but think of Zan Rong, a fellow earthling with amnesia. "What kind?" He asked.
This time, it was the general's turn to get surprised. "You know about elves?"
Mark nodded and behaved as if he had knowledge about the elves. "Pale face, pointy ears, affiliation with nature; do I need to go on?"
General Fan shook his head and even let out a sigh of relief before explaining, "Thank goodness. I guess we took the right decision in contacting you. As far as we know, Queen Consort I… Eyy… Eirlys (EY-RlihS), sorry about that. Queen Consort Eirlys introduced herself as a moon elf. We thought she came from the moon goddess domain.
When she was pregnant with Shi En, our current Emperor Shi Xuan who was retired back then fell ill due to a curse. His Majesty contacted everyone but even supreme realm experts couldn't do anything.
In the end, he contacted the Church of Nuwa's Supreme Pontiff. The latter asked for a price."
"And that price was Shi En?" Mark's facial expression darkened all of a sudden. He stepped on the brake, stopping the vehicle in the middle of the road.
"Yes." General Fan nodded while slowly shifting his gaze, worrying that this mission is going to be a failure.
Mark was someone who faced injustice as a baby and hence, there's no way he would understand their point of view. Still, he had to listen to everything before making the decision. Keeping his anger in check, he gestured for the general to continue with the story.
General Fan continued, "At first, His Majesty thought that he could offer a baby born during the same time as Shi En in place of him but Shi En wasn't born as a human but as an elf.
With his mother dying during childbirth, the elders didn't face any problem in convincing His Majesty to proceed with the sacrifice. Shi En grew up in the church as the child of Goddess Nuwa.
He was currently serving as the Cardinal and the latest news from our spies at Qing Dynasty (Xiezhi Empire) stated that one of the four heavenly princes of the church had passed away and there is a high chance that he will be appointed as one.
If that happens, then, it will be too late. We have to act when he is outside of their protection."
"Okay, tell me something. Do you want him to return to his biological family or do you want me to end his life? What are you suggesting?" Mark could sense that it was more likely the former case but they wouldn't ask his help for such a thing, would they? It's illogical. Hence, he placed his bet on the latter.
General Fan replied while sighing inwardly, "Naturally, we want him to return but he already made his decision clear. He wants nothing to do with the family but three years ago, as our Emperor passed away, Grand Emperor Shi Xuan took the charge as the ruler once again.
His Majesty is willing to confer the title of a prince on Shi En and give him an opportunity to succeed him. What we need from you is the destruction of the Church of Nuwa's branch at Western Yan and his abduction before delivering him safely to the imperial palace."
"Hmm… let me get this straight," Mark spoke with a frown on his face, expressing his displeasure.
"One, you are going back on your promise. Two, you want to act against his wishes. Three, you want me to kill people who had nothing to do with me. And four, you want me to abduct him and deliver to you like a hired mercenary. Why do you think I will help you guys?"
Mark usually says this type of words with a hidden meaning like asking about what he gets in return but this time, he was direct as his heart responded to it, not his mind.
The General then took out two scrolls from his storage ring, "These two are wish grants from His Majesty. You can have one of them. If you take the left one, Apart from the throne and the lives of the imperial princes and princesses, you can ask for anything. The Leon Empire will be obliged to fulfill your request.
And if you take the right one, you can also ask for any materialistic reward that doesn't cross the value of 10 million gold coins.
Of course, it goes without saying that your firearms will be acknowledged by the imperial palace. This is how much we value your help. Will you do it?"
*Ding! You received an emergency quest, Justice to Shi En.
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