Hearing his friend’s laughter, Xavier immediately opened his eyes and questioned vigilantly, “Are you laughing at me?”
The lich opposite him immediately raised a hand to make a silencing gesture, “I just didn’t want to see you looking so glum, that’s all.”
In Celine’s eyes, Xavier was most pleasing to the eye when he had his chin tilted up and put on airs; after all, she had long since grown used to it over so many years.
“Don’t think I’ll believe that so easily.” Xavier narrowed his eyes suspiciously, sizing up his longtime friend—the Undead Lich Celine, who always loved a cold-faced sarcastic remark.
“Relying on the wisdom of the Undead Lich clan, you’ve secretly satirized this Prince on many matters.”
“I wouldn’t dare. Besides, didn’t I just lose my bloodline resonance ability?” Celine expressionlessly rubbed her cheeks as her weightless soul body floated upward, spinning half a circle around Xavier.
“Why not take me around this battleship? Perhaps we can find some information.”
Xavier pondered for a moment. “Very well.”
Hearing this, Celine flashed and dove straight into the magic stone.
Xavier tapped the gemstone to confirm that Celine could perceive the outside world clearly through it, before finally setting his mind at ease and heading out.
However, given his current stature, walking on his own two feet was a completely different perspective from usually overlooking the world perched on Kane’s shoulder.
Being at a lower level to survey the surrounding space made his senses somewhat unaccustomed. Xavier had no choice but to ask No. 1 to help open the cabin door, stepping out slowly, step by step.
Walking on his own two feet really felt rather unaccustomed.
As Xavier walked down the corridor, this thought suddenly popped into his mind, followed by flashes of Kane’s handsome, three-dimensional profile and broad, steady shoulders.
In a momentary daze—until the gemstone at his chest flashed with a faint glow—Xavier shook his head, cast the thought to the back of his mind, and resumed his stride.
He currently only had permissions for the Second and Sixth Districts. According to No. 1, the battleship was divided into ten districts, with the Sixth District being the entertainment zone. Xavier decided to stroll over there.
The metal cabin door at the end of the corridor slid smoothly to both sides, and the clamorous human voices surged forth alongside the cold light of floating light-screens. The atmosphere in the Sixth District was far more lively and relaxed than the utterly deserted Second District.
It wasn’t until Xavier slowly stepped into this area that the atmosphere quietly shifted.
Xavier’s gaze cut past a few stargazers chatting in groups of twos and threes, landing on the light-screen, while Celine’s explanation regarding “live streaming” simultaneously rang in his mind.
Quite an interesting alchemical method.
Xavier evaluated it with a comment, observing the live broadcast screen with a hint of curiosity.
On the light-screen, several blonde, blue-eyed youths draped in white robes were accepting the laurel wreath of priesthood one by one, bowing their heads in reverence and solemnity.
Sunlight pierced through the stained glass windows, spilling over their identical, brilliant golden hair.
A short-cropped star pirate crossed his arms, glanced at the screen, and sneered, “Look at this bunch of brats, looking as scrawny as if they’ve never had a full meal in their lives. Back when Boss Kane participated—”
Just as he was hitting his stride, the companion beside him nudged his arm unassumingly, casting a subtle, obscure glance toward the entrance.
The short-cropped star pirate turned his head accordingly, locking eyes with Xavier, who was slowly approaching, and blurted out, “What kind of…”
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly recalled the notice he’d received not long before—”Do not disturb”—along with the true meaning behind those four words that even a fool could guess:
—Don’t mess with him.
He forcefully swallowed the rest of his words back down.
Right as he was twisting his face in agony over how to handle this, Captain Rain happened to stride over. Amidst the somewhat horrified gazes of the onlookers, Rain forced out a radiant smile, squatted down to greet Xavier, “Well now… little fellow.”
Only then did Xavier reluctantly drag his gaze away from the live broadcast screen. Hearing this, his eyebrows twitched slightly, his tone flat yet carrying an unyielding arrogance: “Call me Prince.”
Morell, standing cluelessly to the side, immediately furrowed his brow and spoke up with dissatisfaction, “Hey, this little doll has quite a big mouth!”
Rain hurriedly stood up to stop him, “Brother, don’t rush, just listen to me.”
He immediately squatted back down, obediently calling out, “Prince.”
Not only did he call out himself, but with a grand wave of his arm, he shrewdly commanded the underlings beneath him to follow suit.
The lackies didn’t understand why, but they instantly jumped on the bandwagon. Whether sitting, standing, or leaning against the wall, they immediately snapped into unison and shouted in one voice.
“Prince—”
The sound was thunderous and full of momentum, causing the metal cabin walls to vibrate slightly, led foremost by the short-cropped lackey.
Morell froze on the spot, for a moment utterly speechless as he instinctively went to pull back his old buddy, whose behavior struck him as quite bizarre, “Hey—”
Rain sighed, signaling him to shut up with a look: Brother, you still know far too little!
Immediately afterward, he cast a fawning gaze back toward Xavier, as if saying: How’s that, majestic enough?
Xavier: ……
Actually, I’m not even happy.
A few onlookers who loved a good spectacle joined in and kept calling out. The ghost-wailing cries of “Prince” echoed back and forth, somehow overlapping with a voice coming from the live broadcast.
Xavier refocused his gaze onto the floating screen. This time, seeing the attire of the figures in the broadcast, he instantly sensed something amiss.
Those individuals were draped solely in white robes symbolizing purity, the draping technique identical to the one Kane had unconsciously tied onto him earlier.
…It seemed, it was also roughly similar to Augustus’s past attire.
The people in the live broadcast had all put on their laurel wreaths, and a live broadcast orb spun around them three hundred and sixty degrees to record, displaying the full panorama of the cathedral.
Gazing at the deity statue with lowered eyes beneath the dome, Xavier’s breathing hitched slightly, his aura turning somewhat unstable as he asked, “What is this doing?”
“Oh, the Son of God Selection Month, of course.” Rain glanced at the screen and said offhandedly, “For these two months, this bunch of princes and princesses are going to bust a gut putting on a show.”
“Son of God?”
“Yeah. It rolls around every twenty or thirty years, gathering the new generation of the royal family together to pick the next generation’s successor for the Son of God, to take up residence in the Church. However…”
Rain paused here, smiling pointedly. Without any forced, fawning expression, his demeanor displayed the strength and aggression fitting for the captain of the First Assault Division of the Blood Blade Star Pirates.
“Only this bunch of wet-behind-the-ears greenhorns would think this is a good way out for themselves.”
With that, the still-squatting Rain looked back up at Xavier, a roguish smile hanging back on his face, “Does the Prince want to watch the broadcast together? The Selection Month lasts for one to three months. Watching this bunch of royal family members put on pretentious acts counts as a form of pastime, at least.”
“Status-free, boring humans. Not interested.” Xavier dropped the comment offhandedly, turning on his heel to walk away.
The moment he turned around, his expression darkened.
At the same time, in his mind, Celine was continuously feeding him information: …The imperial family, which has endured for thousands of years, bears the surname Valentian.
Xavier’s pace grew faster and faster.
Combining everything he had just heard, he couldn’t help muttering, “So Kane is a royal descendant, and he even participated in the Son of God Selection Month?”
That’s right.
Yet since the Empire and the Church are mutually interdependent, why did Kane become a star pirate, openly making enemies of these two major forces? Did he rebel and escape? Yet he still ostentatiously uses his surname…
Xavier was plagued with doubts.
Once the Church was involved, he simply couldn’t remain detached. The embers of his curse and rage completely reignited upon seeing that familiar face beneath the cathedral dome.
Even…
Although he found it somewhat strange himself, he had to admit that apart from the lingering threat of Augustus leaving him deeply uncomfortable, another reason was that Kane was also connected to it all.
Celine, I need to go find out what on earth is going on here.
He wanted to see for himself: three thousand years had passed, so why were Augustus and his curse haunting him like ghosts, while Kane… what role did this fellow play in it?