"Brother. Brother." Xavier hurriedly called out and barged into Xander's private quarters at the Eldorian royal palace.
His brother had been behaving weirdly of late, well weirder than usual and he was very worried about him.
Partly because Xavier had a faint doubt that he might have been responsible for this predicament of his brother.
He had sent a message one night in a drunken stupor to a certain snake and ever since his brother walked around as if he wanted to destroy everything in sight.
Xavier was too afraid to ask about that directly so he tip-toed around, asking him in riddles, but still he got no definite answer.
Just what the hell happened?
The elf didn't dare go near his brother recently, but tonight he had heard some earth-shattering news and he needed to inform this to the devil no matter what!
As Xavier barged into the chamber, he immediately covered his nose, as a thick overpowering aroma of spirit wine attacked him.
It was so strong that the elf even had difficulties in breathing.
Ahh… Xavier gulped nervously, wondering what state his brother was in.
He slowly opened the door and peeked inside to find a lean muscular man sitting at the center of the chamber.
He had an enormous pyre roaring in front of him, thick black smoke coming out of the room, as soon as the door was opened.
A cauldron majestically sat atop the pyre and sizzling sounds came from within.
Brother is concocting? Xavier instantly broke out into a cold sweat.
Xander was a Grandmaster in alchemy. His alchemy talents were praised by almost everyone in the nine countries.
However, the man had a peculiar habit.
He… When he gets crazy… He does crazy things.
Once he had taken out an entire city of rebellious goblins with just a single poison pill.
Xavier subconsciously panted and quickly backed out the door, afraid to even inhale whatever his brother was concocting.
"Brother. Can you step out for a second? I have something important to tell you!!!" He screamed, standing outside the closed door.
"What is it?" Xander casually mumbled, without any expression on his face.
"It's about your snake brother. Can't you come out and talk to me?"
"What do you mean 'my snake'? Do I look like I have a snake wrapped around my neck?"
"Eh?" Xavier was stumped. He wasn't too sure before but now he was. This devil was sulking!
What the hell happened? Did someone steal his wife?
Xavier didn't know that he was spot on with his guess and continued prattling on.
"Don't bring me into this weird fight that you two are having."
"I just came here to tell you that your wife has been busy."
"She just slaughtered that old man Darius's Shadow Generals."
"I heard that he went livid with anger and was even talking about personally paying a visit to your beauty."
Xavier huffed and hurriedly blurted out. He wanted to warn Xander before something bad could happen.
Each and every single one of the elders in the elven high council was a prick but at the same time, those old assholes were extremely skilled and talented in combat.
If one of them really decided to show up, then Tang Yue would most definitely be in a sticky situation, and probably won't survive the encounter or even worse be taken alive as a captive.
Xander's hands slightly trembled as he put the next batch of herbs into the cauldron.
His lips, however, did not speak the truth. "What she does has nothing to do with me." He coldly retorted.
Huh? Xavier was taken aback.
He knew that his brother was extremely arrogant and ruthless, but nevertheless, he held a soft spot for the woman that was beyond his understanding.
Now everything had returned to normal? Just like that? What the hell happened between the two of them?
He did not say anything more and silently left, wondering if it was him that had screwed up something.
Xavier tried to sleep that night but he didn't get any sleep at all.
He tossed and turned and buried his head in between a vixen's chest, but he still didn't get sleep.
Barely a couple of hours had passed when suddenly one of the palace aids rushed to him.
"Your highness." He bowed.
"His highness, Crown Prince Xander has summoned a meeting and requested your presence." The palace aid quickly announced.
Xavier's eyes instantly widened and the man got out of bed, his lips curled upwards in amusement.
"I knew it!" He thumped his fist against the palm of his other hand.
"How could my brother not worry about his pet snake!" The elf hurried and walked over to the Emperor's seclusion palace.
When Xavier entered the main courtroom, he noticed that he was one of the last few to arrive and he quickly shuffled his feet, sitting on a throne next to Xander.
But not before cheekily winking at his brother and nudging him on the side.
Xander turned around, his eyes cold and frosty, roasting the man in place, but Xavier dusted it off chuckling.
"I know the truth brother!"
He grinned smugly, confident that the madman wouldn't do anything to him in front of everybody.
Xander rubbed his temples and turned back around in defeat. It was useless to try and win against an idiot!
While these two brothers exchanged cryptic glances, well not so cryptic actually, everyone including Empress Freya was getting a bit restless.
Among the elven high counsel elders, Darius was the first one to burst out and officially start the meeting.
"What is the meaning of this Xander?" He shouted in annoyance.
The elf's army strength had considerably reduced overnight with the loss of five of his strong Generals and he was in an extremely bad mood.
"Heh. Why are you in such a rush elder Darius? Let's calmly discuss things." Xander chuckled, his thin lips sneering.
Darius angrily clutched the edge of his seat, unable to openly retort against the man's words.
He had no other choice but to calmly wait while the others settled down.
And especially Xander and Xavier took their time greeting everyone before finally starting to discuss the important affairs.
"As I mentioned earlier, a human being has entered our lands. Is he still here or has he already left? No one knows." Xander solemnly spoke.
"Does the council have any opinion on this matter?"
The courtroom which was until now filled with murmurs and whispers suddenly turned deathly silent.
After an entire minute, one of the elders finally spoke up.
"I have sent my forces to scout for more information."
"But they haven't come up with anything useful so far."
"No one has seen or heard about such a thing starting from the big clans to even the small families."
"Kek. How could they know? Isn't this whole thing just a hoax?" Darius chuckled with an ugly grin.
"What Prince Xander? Do you think that our attention will be that easily diverted?"
"We all know what it is that you are trying to hide."
Xander did not respond to his taunts, his face as cold and as impassive as ever.
"So you think there is no threat at the moment?"
"Of course. There is none. Did your spirit beast manage to get the forging technique yet?"
"Why don't you focus on that instead of spending time trying to fool us."
Xander squinted his eyes and looked at the man, enunciating his words. "So you think that there is no threat?"
Darius paused and hesitated lightly before mouthing off again.
"If this is the reason you have gathered us here today, then I have to tell you that this just a waste of time."
"I am leaving." The man harrumphed and stood up, and from the looks of it, the others were also ready to follow him out.
Xander still remained seated and not in the least looked flustered at the situation or the blatant disrespect.
He coldly chuckled, his voice echoing in the courtroom.
"Then what about the fact that the Dwarven Empire has a Deity? Hmmm?"
"Do you think that this news is a hoax as well?"
All the elves immediately froze, halting their movements completely.
The dwarves had a Deity?
This was entirely unheard of but at the same time, they didn't dare to not believe Xander's words.
How could he possibly lie about something like this?
Every single elder who had risen from his seat immediately sat back down with grim expressions on their faces.
Even Xavier was shocked and turned around, both his eyes bulging out. However, he was shocked because of other reasons.
His brother was saving this news as a trump card against the elders, but he used it today?
He couldn't understand his brother's actions at all.
Just yesterday, he adamantly declared that he has nothing to do with Tang Yue anymore, but still, here he was! Once again helping her from the shadows!