Immortal Kingdoms

"Your imagination surely works wonders," Valeria commented lightly, sighing.

"Do you have nothing to say, Juvia? I don't even recognize my own daughter anymore," Valeria switched from Leonardo to the confused Juvia. Of course, she'd be confused, after all, the topics that were brought to the table concerned the well-being of not only her race but the entire population of Arcadia.

Although she made her resolve to follow Leonardo to the higher realm, that didn't mean she was apathetic to the fate of her mother, her race, and the entire planet. Unlike Leonardo who viewed his visit to Arcadia as a passing chapter in his journey, she had deeply rooted feelings for the planet and its people.

Not only Juvia, everyone else excluding Leonardo, Aria, and Pandora had a storm of conflicting thoughts about turning their backs on Arcadia in this hour of crisis.

"I- …" Juvia was tongue-tied under the gaze of her mother.

She didn't know how to respond.

Valeria looked back at Leonardo and said, "Is it wrong for us to want to survive? Your imagination is telling you that we're using you as a shield? Don't make me laugh."

"What about you then? Aren't you using the millions of lives on this planet as your shield? A distraction to buy yourself some time? You hole yourself up in this palace you built, waiting for the enemy to knock on your doors, while you act impervious to the cries and pain everyone out there is going through!"

"Yes, we wanted you to take the battlefield somewhere else. Yes, we couldn't keep neutral as you've advised, but what difference does it make? Are you saying that if we don't provoke them then they'll let us be? Isn't that one ridiculous contradiction coming from you? If they treat us like the ants you speak of, would our attitude even matter?"

Valeria's counterargument also wasn't wrong. Leonardo frowned lightly, seemingly in deep thought.

He shook his head and said, "You see, perhaps I can take a step back. If you can dispatch one of Arcadia's Sovereigns and a fleet of second-cycle saints from both your factions, then I'll allow whoever wishes to volunteer from my subordinates to accompany them in outer space to intercept the incoming invaders…"

From that point, Leonardo was no longer laughing it off but began to discuss it seriously with Valeria and Adeline. After all, he could understand their feelings.

He would feel the same if two foreign powers invaded Earth and began to treat it as nothing more than a battlefield to settle their differences. At that point, it wouldn't matter who was a criminal and who was innocent, who was young and who was old, who was strong and who was weak.

The scale of the conflict is just that huge, the aftershocks wouldn't discriminate between friend or foe. It was only natural that the decision makers, the people with power, would ultimately try to avert disaster by hacking all parties involved and duke it out in outer space.

However, Leonardo had to remind them that they were no longer an unconcerned party. Even if those from his faction and the opposing factions were to dust off and leave, the invaders from the other planet are already here.

Thus, even if Leonardo went out to act as bait, he would only draw attention from the minority of the incoming army while the rest will invade this peaceful planet nonetheless.

Ultimately, no matter how things were discussed, no one wanted to be the first party to clash with the descending army. Leonardo's point was even though he understood their plight and could sympathize with them, but that's about it.

"The game is already set in motion, and I won't change my plans out of compassion or pity for the lives of the masses. Sorry, it's regrettable but this is how things are going to be. If you want, you can start evacuating your people; the women, the elderly, and their children. I will offer them asylum in Gracr Imperial City, but have in mind that I'm only taking this risk because of Juvia."

"However, I wouldn't be too worried because no matter how little they think of Richard, it is a fact that they'd require elven channels to the trade and traffic routes if they wish to expand from the Elven Domain. Another thing to take in mind is the fact that you already know their main target, which is me."

"If you want, you can have the people abandon the cities and towns on their march and evacuate to a more secure location. If you're worried that this action might irk me or give me the impression that you're deliberately thrusting me into the ranks of the enemy, you don't have to worry."

Queen Adeline's expression relaxed lightly as she smiled, "That's good, I was wondering how to break this matter to you. Everyone knows that the outsiders have their eyes set on you while the elves have their eyes set on Juvia, this is literally a personal conflict and not a diplomatic conflict, it would have been awkward if we made a move unprovoked."

Technically, if the Human Domain interferes, it would be nothing sort of an obstruction of justice. That would give the elves a reasonable case to declare war on the Human Domain, and then they would take advantage of the invader's momentum to sweep through the realm.

It could be said that the Human Domain was placed in a passive predicament.

"And if I was to lose this conflict and escape, their combined armies would be occupying a territory that is connected to the hearts of every notable kingdom through traffic and trade routes, a favorable position to invade the Human Domain from within and out," Leonardo added with a faint smile, "I'm positive this isn't something your brother-in-law could come up with, based on how you described him."

Valeria sighed, deflating lightly, "Right, this was a plan proposed by that Xavier guy. Though, I didn't expect it'd go this smoothly. Actually, he already predicted you'd come to this decision, and he was quite confident back then."

Valeria couldn't conceal her astonishment at the wits of these two. Of course, she was also informed about their game of chess without even meeting one another.

Xavier and Leonardo, she couldn't see through either of them.

She wondered if people from the higher realms were all that scheming and pragmatic.

"Oh really?" Leonardo raised an eyebrow, feeling intrigued. If that was true, then the likelihood of this Xavier guy getting executed had just plummeted.

"Yes, he concluded that although you won't yield to my demands, you'll at least come to a compromise that would leave you with a sense of security while lessening the losses of the Human Domain." Valeria nodded, observing Leonardo curiously, "He said anyone with enough sentiment to adopt two strangers would at least have that much sentiment in them."

Oh, he must have investigated the origins of Leona and Kieran. Of course, this could also be a hidden message indicating Xavier's interest in that settlement of convicts.

Leonardo heard that something mysterious was going on there, but he didn't catch anything of particular interest on his last and only visit.

"Interesting," Leonardo muttered lightly. Of course, the others could only interpret it as Leonardo feeling interested that someone could read his character, which was far from the truth.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what plans does Richard have for Juvia? I'm sure there's a deeper meaning to this whole farce than some reclaimed pride and upheld grace."

"He's afraid I'll sire a son that would threaten his position on the Elven Throne!" Juvia answered before Valeria could gloss it over. Apparently, she was disgusted with her uncle, especially since he killed her father and would stoop so low as to repeatedly attempt to assassinate his little niece.

Valeria opened her mouth a few times, struggling with herself. She didn't know whether or not to speak her mind concerning this drama since this was something, well, personal. Eventually, she sighed, "Actually, he wanted to merge the main and branch bloodlines under his ancestry, but since he can't overpower me…"

"He wanted to fuck his niece instead?!" Miko jumped in his seat, eyes wide with disbelief. In fact, he even forgot that he was talking in the presence of two queens from his shock.