After getting ready for the day, the family of three, along with Kayden, took their breakfast before going to their meeting with the core member of the team against the Pope.
As for Little Han, he was temporarily staying with Queen Tehila and Baobao in the secret chamber until Eli and Leon finally got their permission to take a quick trip to the Silver Dew Forest.
Before Eli and Leon met the Emperor, Eli shared everything that happened last night with Leon. Upon understanding what bothers Eli, Leon also opted to check the SilverDew forest just to ensure that they did not miss any crucial details.
When Eli, Leon, and Kayden arrived at the secluded meeting room, Mishael and the High Priest were not yet around.
And so Nathan, Randel, and Emperor Valentin took the time to ask about Eli's well-being and what really caused her injuries.
In the end, they were also informed that Kayden is clueless as to the nature of the bizarre power that caused Eli to have internal injuries.
It was about half an hour later when Mishael and High Priest Enoch finally arrived.
"Apologies everyone…" High Priest Enoch looked at the bunch and asked for their pardon for being late.
"Your Eminence, you need not apologize! I'm sure that something important came up for you to be delayed." Emperor Valentin immediately shook his head, not daring to ask the High Priest to bow toward him.
"Indeed, there's news about the Pope. What was told on my end was that there seemed to be a failed assassination attempt on their way to the Empire.
Although the Pope and his team 'did not have any serious injury' they opted to abort the trip to the Empire and assign an envoy to see the prisoners of the internal war…" High Priest Enoch announced.
Though everyone in the room knew the truth about the 'injuries' of the Pope and his crew, none of them gloated.
The second part of the message was also equally tricky.
"May we know who would be the envoy? Your Eminence, do we have the privilege to know the information beforehand?" Emperor Valentin asked.
High Priest Enoch shook his head and replied, "The Pope has not yet hinted anything because he has yet to talk to the person he had in mind. But most likely the envoy will be as respectable as him, probably a monarch that was already here."
"The Crown Prince of the Vanderford Empire."
Leon knew every monarch that visited the Empire during the tournament, and amongst them, it was the Crown Prince of the Vanderford Empire who had the most prestigious profile apart from the personalities on the Green Wave Territory.
"Very well, if it was someone from the Vanderford Empire we have to be ready." Emperor Valentin had a complicated look on his face.
The charades with the enemy were still not done. They have many tricks on their sleeves. And while Eli, Leon, Nathan, and Randel gambled with their lives to find a solution to delay the Pope, there were other tricky circumstances thrown at them.
"What I think about the Pope's next step was to insist on having the prisoners be transported back to the Holy Island under the guise of the Pope needing to see the faces of the prisoners." Mishael voiced his opinion.
"I have a nagging feeling that the reason why they need to see them was to retrieve something out of them… But I know that the Paladin had already destroyed all their fragments so… I am clueless."
"It will be easy for us to find a way to send you straight to the Vanderford Empire, but we have to prepare in advance. We cannot leave the empire unguarded after all." Emperor Valentin believed Mishael's words as well.
"A formal request from the Pope might arrive on your end within two to three days, Your Majesty." High Priest Enoch reminded him before they decided to temporarily close the matter.
The next agenda of the meeting was Eli asking permission from the Emperor and the High Priest to take a quick trip to the Silver Dew Empire.
She explained everything that happened during the encounter and the dream.
"When I faced the fake paladin, I felt like there was something mixed into her powers. Not only that it contained a curse, but it was something else… distantly familiar, but I swore that I have never seen or felt such a power before…
I didn't even expect that it would have a grave effect on my body… It was not until I had a vision of the staff that I knew that I might find the answer to that mystery.
If the staff had the power to neutralize that power, then maybe we can find a clue about the origin of the unfamiliar power that was mixed on the fake paladin's curse aura." Eli explained.
"Hmmm… I have indeed heard that the ceremonial staff was acting strange recently… Then go ahead and take a trip there. I pray that you may find what you are looking for." Emperor Valentin immediately gave his approval to Eli.
As for Kayden and Leon, he had additional instructions before letting everyone be dismissed from the meeting.
Eli, Leon, and Kayden planned to jump straight through the SilverDew Forest through the teleportation array from the Seirende Central Bank.
However, they need to plan their sneaking out of the capital so that no other people should witness that they were going out.
And so Eli carried on with her typical day after the tournament, reporting on the Anti-Curse Committee headquarters along with Kayden.
As for Leon, he took a trip to the stations that he needed to inspect while only notifying the Crimson Blades of his trip to the Silver Dew Forest.
After another day of hard work, it is time for them to prepare to go into the forest.
Eli went back home, preparing Little Han's clothes and necessities as she knew that Little Han might not be able to understand why his parents were once again leaving him home for two consecutive nights.
Carrying Little Han on her shoulders they teleported through Leon's palace once again and from there, the group of one toddler and three adults teleported Straight to the Seirende Central Bank, on the silver town.
"We're here…" Eli saw the familiar room where she was brought by Leon during the time she was living in the Silver Dew forest. She was pregnant back then.
But this time, they have Little Han, excitedly scanning the surroundings as if he was going on an adventurous field trip.
But they did not linger any longer as the people in Seirende Central Bank were not yet privy to the information about Little Han, and so the group moved straight to the Argentum, which was an extension of Eli's Forgeworn family.
"Your Highness Third Prince, Mi Lady Eli, Great Doctor, and Little master… welcome back to Argentum." The Argentum Butler has been waiting for them the entire night, and he was happy to see the trio come back well and healthy.
Especially Little Han, whom he only got to see with whom he was but an infant.
"Little Han, say hello to grandpa butler." Eli smiled at the butler who took care of her even during her training under the High Priest.
"Hewwo Gwanpa… good evening!" Little Han raised his chubby hands and wiggled it in a wave.
The Old Butler's heart melted in delight to see such a young child grow up so adorably.
After a few greetings, the butler assigned the maids to lead everyone in their own quarters. They have to stay here for the night and wait for Azayn to fetch them in the Argentum.
It was a peaceful night for everyone in Argentum and even in the capital…
But not on the Mellenberg Territory where the Pope and his crew were recuperating.
"D*mn! D*mn! D*mn! D*mn! That B*tch!" Rachana was lying on the bed, her body full of bandages.
Every part of her body is painful, even breathing is too painful for her!
All she could do was to curse in her mind as she could not even lift her mouth open to speak.
To continue to supplement her body with medicine and food, there was a transparent bag hung overhead, with a tube attached to it down to her hand - a technology that only the modern people on earth would have had knowledge of!
The dextrose!
"I swear! If I see that b*tch again I will let her suffer all the pain I am suffering right now!" Rachana vowed in her heart.
Soon she heard footsteps approaching her slowly.
"I know you can hear me. I have decided to abort our mission and go back to the Holy Island." Soon the voice of the Pope rang in her ears.
"It would only be there that you can restore your body to a normal state. Forget about going to the Empire. I'll find a way to have the Third Prince come by himself on the holy island…" The Pope continued to talk to Rachana's unresponsive body.
"He will not be able to resist if we insist on taking the prisoners outside the empire…"