Immortal Kingdoms

Leonardo led Juvia and Pandora into a nearby inn as the sky had already fallen into darkness. To the surprise of the fat man and his party, Leonardo didn't try anything funny and directly lodged a room for two nights and three days.

The moment he entered the room followed by his supposedly two bodyguards and shut the doors, Leonardo visibly relaxed as he let out a sigh. Looking down at his trembling hands, he stretched his lips into a faint smile.

Pandora was the first to drop to one knee while lowering her head.

"Sorry I've brought you trouble, leader…"

Juvia didn't know whether this was good or bad because for all the bad reasons, she finally got her chance at sainthood. Nonetheless, she also dropped to one knee, lowering her head to hide the internal struggle she felt.

Leonardo took a deep breath to calm down before shaking his head, "You did great, actually. My mission isn't to attain sainthood in five years, but to invade and conquer Arcadia. This business opportunity is a big leap forward, so you can stay here and attend the lecture in regards to sainthood."

He then turned around, looking down at the female elf who tossed back her hood. A head full of golden hair, a pair of emerald eyes, and a face sculpted with a lethal combination of elegance and charm. This creation of the creator stared longingly in a daze at Leonardo.

Eventually, he willed for his spatial ring to take out a fist sized energy crystal, startling the female elf who had yet to recognize the space ring. However, the moment she did, she was even more shocked.

"You're probably familiar with energy crystals, simply not ones of this size and degree of concentration." Leonardo snapped her out of her daze as he spoke, "Make yourself comfortable and listen to this lecture about martial intent and by extension; sainthood."

Juvia nodded her head and quickly walked over to a fairly isolating corner of the room before taking a seat on the floor. As for Pandora, she approached the bed and sat down, intending to listen as well. Although Leonardo told her that the key for a martial intent is sentiment, she couldn't understand why or how back then.

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Leonardo sat in a position where the trio were locked in a triangle formation before he began his lecture in a calm voice.

"Sainthood is about sentiment. Although the catalyst for sainthood is the essence of energy, what is exactly the 'essence' of energy? Some may confuse it to be laws because Saints gain a rudimentary understanding of them and an opportunity to feel those laws, but that's wrong."

"That question has an infinite amount of answers and all of which can be either false or true under the impression of your sentiment. The essence of my energy is desolation, and that essence is derived from my martial intent. Then, where does the importance of sentiment come from?"

"Simple; sentiment is the connection between your soul, body, and the world all around you translated into martial intent. We are all intelligent creatures, and intelligence is accompanied by our ability to perceive and express emotions."

"To comprehend your unique martial intent, you need to perceive your spiritual connection to the world. My personal experience is a destitute one, and I happened to perceive the desolation expressed by the world before expressing my own, and that sentiment allowed me to comprehend something unique to myself."

"As an elf, your innate talents will lead you toward nature, focus on that direction. Not the elements; just nature. Not the nature of Arcadia, but the nature in your heart. Let your emotions depict what nature truly is."

"Arcadia is Arcadia, you are you. Attaining sainthood is a sign, a declaration of independence. If you can't detach yourself from relying on Arcadia, you will never truly achieve the uniqueness you seek. If you can't attain sainthood with all of this, you've disappointed me." By the time Leonardo finished lecturing Juvia, the female elf was already in a deep trance digesting the new direction to her cultivation path.

Pandora was also in a silent state of comprehension. Unlike Juvia who relies heavily on the circumstances of being in her home planet to harness energy and magic, people like Leonardo and Pandora have already discarded the notion of relying on their surroundings for greater power.

Their unique circumstances in the higher realms attuned them towards independence, hence the final section of the lecture was nothing short of redundant to Pandora who was already entrenched in her own blood magic and ranger capabilities.

Leonardo left the two girls to their own devices as he entered the shower for a quick hygiene check. Having been stranded in the wild for so long, a lot of filth has accumulated on his clothes and skin. In fact, he had brought a few sets of clothes with him, he simply hadn't found the chance to take a rest and shower appropriately for the past week.

It had been almost 10 days since he left home and as such, his shower thoughts wandered back to his mother, and her image occupied his mind for the latter part of his luxury hours.

Half an hour later, Leonardo exited the shower room in a fit of new white garments similar in style to his last attire. A casual white shirt, white windbreaker jacket, and white pants. What greeted him was Pandora's curious crimson eyes and face as she long discarded her hood.

Leonardo always wondered how old was Pandora to have such a childish face, but he didn't care enough to inquire about it. On the other hand, Pandora had a question of her own, "Had it ever occurred to you to simply abandon me behind and walk away?"

…

When Leonardo and company left the discussion room, the fat man eyed his two business partners from left to right respectively while talking, "What do you two think? Hm? Mason? Andrew?"

"Don't ask me, Jeffery!" Mason slapped down the table with a solemn expression.

"Indeed," Andrew added, "This is your mess, clean it up. I will report things back as they are."

Jeffery looked from Mason to Andrew, he then smiled deviously before saying, "If you two leave it up to me, I might simply make him as much of a partner as the two of you."

"Bullshit."

"If you want to help him onboard, you can split profits from your share; we are not obligated to clean up your mess. Don't forget, it was you who insisted on meeting up in this shithole of a place to begin with!"

Jeffery kneaded his forehead, feeling an incoming headache. Both Mason and Andrew washed their hands clean from this, and his boss back home might react negatively if they were to find out that their shares have been compromised.

Jeffery took a deep drag from his cigar while thinking.

"Wait! How can you be sure he won't leak sensitive clues to our Elven and Beastkin counterparts?" One of the two asked.

"He's not dumb," Jeffery breathed out a thick stream of smoke while mumbling out a response, "He's a businessman."

…

Quickly, three days have passed. During these three days, Leonardo accompanied Pandora on a routine trip throughout Valdmor while ignoring the eyes in the shadows.

Also during these days, Jeffery reached out for his boss back in the human domain to update them on the unexpected turn of events. Of course, Mason and Andrew did the same, but they anonymously agreed to pin the blame on Jeffery, promising to make him take the fall.

This was a covert operation, the human domain didn't wish to alert the beast and elven domains of their movements. Thus, they could only handle things secretly as they come.

None of the trio revealed the content of their direct orders to their partners, but Mason and Andrew were all smiles at the table, it was Jeffery who wore a solemn and slightly exasperated expression.

He was a sly fox, and he happened to have recorded the conversation with Leonardo. That was his only way to prove he wasn't quibbling nonsense or exaggerating Leonardo's capabilities to underwhelm his failure.

Nonetheless, he felt a headache over the orders passed down from the human domain.

It was at this point that the door to the discussion room opened and Leonardo walked in, alone.

Manson and Andrew both raised their eyebrows at how gutsy this kid is, daring to come alone.

Only Jeffery felt an increasing headache because he knew this wasn't the kid being gutsy, but being careful instead. If all three of them were in this room, they'd have less complications to worry about if they took action to kill. However, under these circumstances, they absolutely cannot afford to kill this kid.

Indeed, this was Leonardo's first move on the chessboard. Although risky, it worked magic on intelligent brains. At first glance, and from everyone's expressions, Leonardo instantly deduced that the fat man was the biggest brains in the room.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Leonardo joined the discussion table.