Even if this mortal indeed possessed a soul of purity rarely seen in this world, from the principle of equivalent exchange, it was an impossible feat in the eyes of the Succubus.
And it was precisely because of this, the Succubus could only stand by and watch the young prince sitting there.
"I asked him, ’With that world so sullied and rampant with evil desires, it’s because of these people that Chaos and the Evil God managed to establish coordinates to invade that world.’ In such circumstances, does he still need to pay such a high price to save this world?" The young man looked at the wine in his cup, swirling it until the Succubus, taking up the jest, continued the conversation, "How did he respond, Your Highness?"
"He said, ’He’s saving all the innocents on the planet under his feet who need saving, the souls that still don’t give up in the face of desperation, the warriors who still stand before the innocents in the midst of hell... As for those filthy souls, just leave them to be purified by those he saves,’" the young man with Succubus eyes said, draining his glass and then rising to head toward the exit.
"Your Highness, take care on your way." The Succubus watched the prince leave her bar, leaned back on the soft cushion of her chair, pondered for a moment, and then smiled somewhat helplessly.
Humans are creatures full of endless possibilities, they can be the vilest life in a world or the purest soul.
The Succubus truly hoped for more of the latter, because making such a soul fall would be her happiest moment.
If they couldn’t fall, then let that pure soul purify her instead.
Constantine Julius didn’t particularly like the grandfather clock in his home, which had been with him since birth. The young people in the family found this surprising; moving in different Sequences, they naturally couldn’t understand their grandfather’s sensitivity to the chimes.
As the Tide of the Dead approached, the clock’s chimes seemed to mimic the footsteps of destruction, each toll signifying its nearing to this world.
Old Constantine was powerless to change this; he was aged, and the world was slipping into the abyss, something he could do nothing about, but if it meant throwing this old carcass into the fray, Constantine wouldn’t even furrow his brow.
"Grandpa, why don’t you like that clock, it’s so beautiful," the youngest grandchild asked, standing beside it.
Indeed, how beautiful it was, old Julius asked himself, for it was a wedding gift from the King at the time to his parents.
A Half-human artisan had taken half a year to craft it, and winding it ten times wouldn’t make it lose a second.
"Grandpa’s old, and doesn’t quite understand the clock chimes anymore. How about I give it to you?" the elder said with a smile.
"No, that belongs to Grandpa," the young child shook his head, just like his father had in years past.
Thinking this, Constantine noticed his butler, who pushed open the door, "My lord, Prince Malin has arrived."
"Please, let him in." Regensburg was cold today, and the old Sage of the Julius family welcomed the young man with a smile, gesturing for the prince to sit beside him, "Malin, my young friend, I thought you would create a seven-colored teleportation portal and jump out of my fireplace."
"That would be too much of a challenge for me, Lord," Malin said with a smile, pulling a document from his briefcase, "Lord, for the sake of the future, I hope you can relocate to Farol Principality. Rongma’s new city requires the Deep Diver Guild and Sage Tower to settle in; we can offer you the most favorable terms."
"That’s not a problem, but I feel that you didn’t come to my place today just for these two things. Share with this old man, what else would you like to ask?" As a Sage, Constantine understood this well, and Thanan people had a saying for this— ’There’s no visiting the temple without a cause.’
"My wives are pregnant," Malin revealed.
This answer left Constantine somewhat bemused, and just as he was about to congratulate the young man, he suddenly remembered something, "I recall, you’ve just achieved Legendary status."
"Yes, Clovis’s foster father suspects there might be an issue and asked me to consult you," Malin said with no apparent anxiety, "I think he’s making a mountain out of a molehill, but out of respect for my elder, I thought I should come and ask you."
"There might indeed be an issue, but I think it’s probably due to your Legendary achievement. You are now the purest of the Gold bloodlines; even Miss Maya would rank lower than you. Perhaps that’s why your bloodline completely dominated theirs, and combined with both sides’ genuine and robust emotions, it could actually increase fertility rates. So that young man only saw the surface of the issue without grasping the core," Constantine analyzed.
"I agree, then there should be no problem. I have other matters to attend to, so I must be going," Mr. Malin said with a smile, nodding his head slightly before rising to take his leave.
Once the young man had departed, the smile gradually faded from Constantine’s face as he lowered his head to look at his trembling hands.
Old dog, what are you afraid of?
The old man questioned himself, but the introspective Spell Formation that had always worked wonders in the past now completely lost its effect.
Meanwhile, the sound of the clock striking the hour resonated.
Leaving Julius’s old residence, Malin decided to check on the situation at the research institute—over the past few months he had barely shown his face there, and the elven ambassador had complained several times that Malin wasn’t attending to serious matters.
Poor Malin, Gaiate Prince—as of late he had been swamped with back-to-back tasks, living the "996" level of blessed busy life, sometimes even volunteering to work overtime at the "0247" level of perpetual motion.
Thus, Malin couldn’t enjoy a moment of leisure, dragging himself through teleportation channels, flitting about the world. He might as well pay a visit since returning to Rongma would merely change the form of his work.
Considering Regensburg’s alert mode, Malin didn’t directly open a teleportation channel to the research institute—if the defensive Array malfunctioned, rerouting the portal to the center of the Dark Zone, that would indeed cause a great deal of trouble.
Choosing to walk rather than teleport, Malin, of course, wouldn’t disclose his intention to sneak in some disguised leisure time.
Then, having only walked a few steps past the corner, Malin encountered a certain gorilla from the national security agency, sitting in the back of a car. As the two locked eyes in a stare-down, the gorilla immediately recognized Malin’s identity, "Your Excellency, what brings you here today?"
Once confirmed, it seemed that my true identity as Malin had been established.
Realizing this, Malin somewhat reluctantly repeated his idle thoughts out loud.
"That won’t do, Your Excellency! Let me take you to the research institute today!" the gorilla declared, shooing away the subordinate in the driver’s seat, then taking the front seat and gesturing for Malin to sit in the recently vacated back seat.
"Alright," Malin nodded profoundly.
Life has become unbearable. Is it really that hard to sneak in a bit of idleness?!
This gorilla is truly an unfilial beast; no wonder his son gave him the cold shoulder for the sake of love.
Despite his internal complaints, Malin graciously accepted the ride, thinking to himself that it didn’t matter much; after all, the driver’s intentions were good—oh my, why is this car going so fast?!
As the thought crossed his mind, and while the car was skidding sideways, Malin felt the world upside down in an instant, and this inversion repeated several times, until the young man who safely landed, stumbled from the street onto the sidewalk, and finally steadied himself against a wall, putting an end to this bizarre adventure, he pondered the retreating motorcycle in deep thought.
Could it be that the gorilla had been replaced? Or was he really an agent of Chaos?
With such doubts, Malin walked for twenty-seven minutes until he finally saw the gorilla returning on the same path.
This gorilla knew to come back for him, indicating he wasn’t beyond hope.
Malin, with hands on hips, stood on the sidewalk watching the gorilla pull up on the motorcycle right in front of him.
"Why did you jump out of the car?" the gorilla spoke like a human.