Chapter 1303: Glimpse of the kingdom
Michael had no choice but to approach the two Conglomerates. After all, Caliburn and his family were over there!
He didn’t expect this. A few weeks ago, Caliburn told him that he was off to fetch something out there. So, he didn’t expect to see the Lionhearts here in the Chasm.
And he especially didn’t expect them to be chummy with the two Conglomerates.
I guess it makes sense. The Lionhearts are one of the most powerful families in the world. Of course they have good ties with the Conglomerates.
Michael approached Caliburn with Jaku and a few of their trusted soldiers. It would do no good showing up with his entire army right now.
"Michael! I’m back!" Caliburn greeted Michael with an intense hug, almost squeezing the breath out of the young Rebornian leader.
"Rugh... yep... why.... Are you here..."
Caliburn laughed. "Hahahaha! Didn’t expect that, did ya? Oh, have you met these guys yet?"
The Lionheart Patriarch turned to Levi and Theresa, who was currently undergoing a massive shock as they saw Caliburn being so close with Michael.
"Umm... sir Caliburn... how do you know this person?" asked Theresa. Even before she knew the answer, she already had a feeling about what it was going to be.
"This guy? He’s my friend which means that we’re allied with his company."
It was at this point that both Levi and Theresa started shaking their heads, as if they couldn’t accept this reality.
After all, they’d all been told all their lives that the Lionhearts were untouchable. They were allied with the Oscorpes, and they had a tight relationship that stemmed from Caliburn’s childhood itself.
And even then, the Lionhearts and the Oscorpes could barely be even considered as an alliance. It was a business relationship based on a contract.
The Lionhearts would give them soldiers, and the Oscorpes would pay them in turn. But they weren’t fully allies.
But now, Caliburn was fully depicting the Reborn company as their ally! This was an explosive set of news that would shake the very foundation of the entire elite society!
"What... what do you mean—" Theresa asked. But before she could finish her words, Caliburn stopped her again.
"The ice-petals," Caliburn demanded.
With such strong words, Theresa had no choice but to give the Lionheart Patriarch the Spatial Ring that contained the ice-petals that Lazarus gave her.
Caliburn inspected the ring before giving it to Michael. "Here."
Theresa started to choke up. The very item that she worked hard for, the very thing that she sacrificed time, money, and connections for... was given away just like that.
She thought that she was doing Caliburn a favor. She thought that she was helping their family.
But as it turned out, it wasn’t even for them! It was for Michael!
All this time, they’d treated the Reborn company as a fly on the wall. Annoying, but fundamentally harmless. So, they didn’t mind their presence at all.
But now, suddenly, the paradigm has shifted. Reborn went from a successful business company to a powerful military force!
The fact that they had allied with the Lionhearts already put them on the same level as most of the top Upper Echelon companies, if not better than them.
They couldn’t believe it! And so, the question now plagued both Levi and Theresa.
Why? Why would the Lionhearts choose to abandon the Oscorpe Conglomerate and instead ally themselves with the Reborn company?
"What is this for?" Michael asked Caliburn.
"This is for your army," the Lionheart Patriarch replied. "This is the ingredient that will help them increase their power in a single burst.
Now originally, I wanted them to have these ice-petals in order for them to have the sufficient fire-power to survive the Chasm. But as it turned out, it looks like they were plenty competent all on their own if you made it this far."
"You taught them the Eternal Flame swordstyle?!" Theresa asked. She didn’t mean the words to sound so offended, but the shock inside her still lingered and influenced her emotions clearly.
"That should be of no concern to you," Caliburn said. "But yes. Reborn has earned the right to learn our sacred fighting style."
Seberus, all this while, just kept nodding his head sympathetically. He was glad that someone was finally understanding the absurdity of the situation.
"You guys don’t even know the half of it," Seberus whispered to Levi and Theresa. "Don’t ask them about Jaku."
The two Conglomerate leaders ignored the Mystic Master’s nonsensical words.
They started to recalculate their perception of the Reborn company. When they first saw the 15,000 troops alongside Michael, they didn’t think that they were anything impressive. In fact, they seemed a little bit... too pretty. They didn’t have the scars and battle merits that all good armies had on their soldiers.
Did that army really deserve to learn the greatest sword fighting style in the entire world?
Levi and Theresa would literally exchange all of their wealth in order to learn that sword style. It would increase their own armies by at least three times their original power!
Their sentiment wasn’t rare. In fact, other Conglomerate leaders had the same idea! However, the fact that the Lionhearts kept this sword style to themselves prevented those dreams from coming true.
And now, it seemed that Reborn was able to do what no one had done before... yet again.
Just as Levi was about to say something, a large explosion broke out from a distance, creating a brief instantaneous light that illuminated the dark cavern.
Everyone turned to the direction of the disturbance. And immediately, they felt the presence of numerous magical monkeys that were running towards them at full speed.
"Damn," Levi cursed. "Men, at arms!" he commanded.
"Coaltion! Start preparing your armies! We’ll defend our base here!" Theresa shouted at the top of her lungs.
The resurgence of these creatures had forced the individual leaders to separate back into their own camps.
Meanwhile, Michael looked towards the distance and saw a brief glance of something at the end of the cavern.
That’s the demi-human kingdom!