Chapter 301: The Girl before Arrora

"As Knight said, the ranking ceremony will take two things into consideration to rank us. However, there's one other thing we must improve if we want our kingdom to really thrive" Don said and except for Ukita, none seemed to realize the meaning of his words.

"Education, we have to provide education to everyone in our kingdom. Not only we should teach them about cultivation but also essential skills like writing, reading and everything they need to improve their livelihood"

"What do you have in mind, Don?" They all knew that Ukita was traveling between kingdoms to teach the citizens how to write and read. Until now, he was using the castles in Emir, Agoria, and Ishikara as his teaching place.

"We have to open up our own Academy where we provide cultivation resources and education to everyone" None had a disagreement with Don as they understood that an Academy will be a great asset to their kingdom.

An education center like this would help them train their citizens from their early age and turn them into a skilled soldier or a scholar.

"But your majesty" Nanbu called out and continued "creating a sect is not a simple task. We not only need a place to teach but also a huge amount of resources, teachers, and an entire hierarchy" Most of them nodded as Nanbu's words made sense.

"In this room, you three have the best knowledge of how to run a sect, so I will leave this to the three of you. Create a plan and come to me, don't worry about the coins, we can always sell one or two spells from Hedor's collection or daggers from Noa's"

"We won't disappoint you, your majesty" Nanbu smiled widely as Kayako and Ukita bowed their heads and Knight could see the excitement in their eyes.

"Now enough of planning" Don said and looked at Catalie who was standing beside him silently, yet, the little girl's face seemed shining with glee.

"Let's everyone take a moment and congratulate our Catalie for reaching the peak Heavenly level"

"What?!" Amaryll shouted in shock and except for Reghys, Knight, and Don, all of them stared at the little girl with wide-opened eyes. After being forced to use the Apex a bunch of times by Knight, Amaryll just reached the Mid Great master level but Catalie reached the Peak Heavenly level without any aid from the Apex.

Catalie's cultivation and power depended on the kingdom's prosperity. The more prosperous Everlight was, the faster she would become powerful. The little girl was a guardian for the entire Everlight who could become more powerful than the king himself.

"Congratulations Catalie, why didn't you say anything to us about this?" Vivian asked.

"I wanted to surprise everyone including my brother but that Oracle thingy ruined my surprise" the little girl pouted looking at the Oracle on Don's chest.

"Now that she reached the Peak Heavenly level, we should do our best to collect everything that needs to evolve her"

"What do we need again?" Knight asked

"Hair of a goddess, tears of a god, Energy of the wicked, the fire made by gods and the bone of the holiest person. I know the god and goddess parts might seem overwhelming, but we have already collected two items on the list" as he said, he flicked his wrist and two vials appeared on the table before him. Everyone's attention turned to the vials. One vial had black smoke inside and the other had some golden fibers which radiated pure Life Energy. Lia could tell the fibers radiate purer Life energy even than the pure Life energy pills she and Knight got from the Old tombs in Kong Island.

"Your majesty, what are those and where did you get them?" Vivian asked and curiously stared at the two vials but she didn't try to touch them because the black smoke gave off an ominous aura.

"The black smoke is the Energy of the Wicked and those fibers are the hair of a goddess. We got the latter from Sears's space ring" The items were authenticated by Catalie since even Reghys could not identify the golden fibers. Yet, somehow the little girl identified the items in a second.

"What about the black smoke?" Arrora's felt troubled looking at the black smoke and gently grabbed Don's wrist with a concerned look on her face.

"I can't answer that for some time but trust me, it's better if you don't know. End of discussion" None had the guts to ponder him about where he got the black smoke after hearing his last words. Obviously, they didn't like to be kept in the dark but they had no choice but to keep their curiosity and worry to themselves. Only two persons knew about the black smoke, Knight and Reghys.

"Knight, we should go and meet Yvonne '' Knight stood up and nodded before giving those two vials to Reghys.

But when Don was about to take a step towards the door, he looked at Nicolas and Vivian," Nicolas, I heard you will turn 23rd next week"

"Ria told you" Nicolas let out a small smile as Vivian wrapped her hands around him and ruffled his head. Nicolas seemed a little embarrassed to be treated like a kid but he was happy.

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After leaving the Dragon king's castle in Everlight, Don returned to Agoria. Knight and Arrora came with him to meet Yvonne.

"Where are they settling down?" 

"I gave them a place in the noble district. I think they were glad to leave Vreston" Knight said as Don put his arm around his neck.

"Does Lia know about your true form?" Arrora giggled looking at the two who were acting like more of teenagers rather than a King and a General.

She would feel very light-hearted and delighted to see both of them like this as these were a few moments they forgot all about the responsibilities on their shoulders.

"Lady Adria"

"Your majesty!"

"Is that the General Knight the black-armored men was talking about?"

"He's also his majesty's brother"

"Yeah I heard only he can fight his majesty without losing"

"Idiot why would they fight? Look at them, they obviously cherish each other" 

Arrora could hear the people's chattering about Don and Knight while she was following them to Yvonne's place.

"Why you ask? You think Amaryll didn't tell Lia about me already?"

"She didn't Knight, at least as far as I know," Arrora said.

"Why does it matter? Are you planning to hook me up to her, you bastard?" Knight chuckled and lightly punched Don in the gut.

"Don't worry, a beautiful girl like Lia won't notice an ugly bastard like you" Don said as Arrora laughed at Knight.

"Why are you laughing? He said Lia is beautiful, did he ever compliment you?" Arrora's laugh stopped and her smile froze on her face. Thinking about Knight's words, she realized that he was right. She couldn't help but slightly feel jealousy when she heard Don say that Lia is beautiful.

"Hehehe" Knight saw Arrora's face and giggled evilly guessing that he successfully put Don into a bit of a pickle. He knew although Arrora is not like other girls, she would like to hear him compliment her and not other girls, especially in front of her.

"Do you think she's beautiful?" Arrora's mouth weirdly twitched

"Of course, she is beautiful. Why? do you feel jealous?" His hand was still around Knight's neck as he asked.

"I'm not jealous" she sulked and Don could see her pointy ears twitching, a sign of her lying.

"Your ears would twitch whenever you lie, do you know that?"

"No, it doesn't" she held her ears and tried to stop them from twitching. She seemed cute as Don put his other arm around her without minding the citizens on the street

"It might sound cringy but you are more beautiful"

"It does but I'll take it" she head-butted Don as Knight rolled his eyes "oh, get a room you two"

"You're just jealous that I have a girl," Don said, "the second time's the charm huh?" just when these words left Knight's mouth, he realized that he blabbered something he shouldn't have.

Knight saw a sense of sadness and anger emerge in Don's eyes. He didn't want Don to remember what happened before they left the divine Continent or anything about the first girl in Don's life.

He was the reason for what happened between Don and his first lover and he was regretting it every single day but what he regretted most, was he didn't do anything to her for what she did before they left the divine continent. 

Looking at Knight's troubled face, Don patted him on the back burying his emotions deep in his heart.

"I forgot about everything that happened Knight, and you should too. What happened, happened, we cannot change that '' Arrora just realized that she is not the first girl in his life but there was another girl before her. Somewhat it bothered Arrora and she wanted to know more about that girl and what happened between them.

She understood this was not the place to ask such questions, therefore, she decided not to ask any questions. However, she wanted to know what happened between Don and that girl.