227 Clear Lake Sect and the Astrels

She could see his brows rise when his gaze landed on her as she nervously looked at Nanbu and Ukita who was sitting awkwardly in the seats where usually the noble guests would sit. Surprisingly they were too wearing new clothes and looked rather refreshed.

After a thorough bath, her long forest green hair draped over her shoulders like a shawl and had a soft luster. Her skin glowed with vitality and a light dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose added a youthful vitality to her face as her cheeks were rosy and the bruises and marks on her body had faded.

But behind her facade, Don saw the real her, just like Nanbu.

"Kayako Yoshii, a druid among humans"

The moment she heard him, her body became rigid and her heart thumped against her chest.

Thanks to the Oracle, Don saw through her disguise as a human. Little saplings were growing out of her hair and running around her neck as her ears were pointier and longer than the elves. She had vines coiled around her hands and formed a natural armor and the armor looked dehydrated but he could see the vitality returning to them.

Her green eyes kept staring at him as he looked at Nanbu again.

And just like Kayako, Nanbu too wasn't a human but a half-orc. He had the strength and the green skin of the orcs except for the tusks of pure orcs like Hagu and his group.

Don didn't know how they managed to disguise themselves as humans for this long but he was surprised.

"Take a seat"

His gaze made her legs walk towards the seat beside Nanbu and Ukita without her control.

Ukita tried to read him but for the first time, he couldn't read anything from Don's face or even guess what he was thinking by looking at his face.

He was unable to guess how Don managed to know their real identities because the potion that Kayako brewed was supposed to be foolproof.

"A human, a half-orc and a druid"

When Kayako sat on the seat, he said.

Kayako couldn't stop shivering as Nanbu tightly held her hand

"I guess you knew about this all along"

Don looked at Ukita and asked as he slowly nodded because he realized there's no point in lying to him.

"Good thing that King Noa doesn't, or he would have sold you for more than just five thousand low stones"

The name of Noa kindled the anger in Nanbu's eyes more than the humongous amount he sold them for.

"I heard what he did, so I assume you want revenge, just don't lie to me"

Ukita and Kayako both stared at Ukita as they always looked for Ukita's wisdom for situations such as this.

"Hmm, why did he suddenly attack your sect? Why now? I heard your sect had been there since Ishikara's first king"

A sudden sadness appeared in the eyes of Kayako and Ukita when he asked as Ukita sighed

"Your majesty, a long time ago, when our Clear Lake Sect flourished, the Cold Moon Palace, Redland Academy, or even the Royal Sect of Archeron couldn't be compared to us. Kings and Queens would line up to get admission for their children in our sect it was simply the golden age for our Sect, until"

Ukita paused for a moment and took a few breaths

"Until the current emperor's great grandfather led the human army against the Astrels and hunted them down"

"What's the connection?"

No one knew why the emperor waged war against the Astrels but he was adamant to hunt every single one of the Astrels and only rested after slaughtering a huge number of them who were living in the empire. The overwhelming number of humans, the fights between various races among the Astrels, the alliance between the dark elves and the humans caused the Astrels to lose the war against the humans and escape the empire to the outerlands and many islands in the sea.

Only after the emperor died, the hunting of Astrels came to an end but he had already messed up the order and harmony of the empire.

"The main reason for our sect to flourish was your majesty, We accepted disciples and teachers based on their talent and skills, not their race, not their status in the society. Orcs and ogres taught combat, elves and druids taught archery and everything about nature, dwarves and halflings taught engineering. We specialized in everything as we nurtured and produced countless talents, your majesty. Even after the emperor's decree to banish the Astrels, our sect masters refused to change this principle and with time, their decision made our sect to decline as we lost many talented teachers and students in the war, furthermore many rulers restricted their subjects from coming to our sect"

Don could only imagine how powerful the sect must have been considering only with a bunch of Astrels, he was able to build such a powerful army and develop his kingdom to this extent.

"You still didn't answer my question? Why Noa attacked you now?"

"It's because of Lord Takayori, your majesty, you see, Lord Takayori's ancestor saved one of our previous sect masters once and the sect master in return assigned him the title of Noble and gave him a huge piece of land. Since then Lord Takayori's family served the sect loyally and even when our sect declined, they protected us since they turned out to be one of the powerful families in Ishikara"

Ukita sighed again and went on

"But unfortunately Lord Takayori bore no children and the current patriarch of the Takayori family, Lord Takayori's brother in law, has no intention of sticking his head out for a declined sect like us. And when Kayako failed to concoct the Weludin pill, King Noa branded us as traitors and you know the rest, your majesty "

It was a logical move by Noa since the Takayori family withdrew their support, he had no one to stop him from annihilating the sect and probably plundering the sect.

"What's a Weludin pill?"

"A pill that would slowly transform him into a woman, your majesty "

"Forever?"

The potion that Arrora drank would only let her turn into a man for a short amount of time and he never heard such a thing that would transform a man into a woman forever.

"Yes, your majesty, forever, the transformation can't be reversed"

"I assume there are side effects?"

Ukita nodded

"There is one, your majesty, once someone consumes the pill and transforms into a woman, she will lose the ability to cultivate and if she tries, the magical core would explode and she would die in a gruesome way "

Don thought Noa was a crossdresser who likes to look like a woman but he never thought that he would try to completely transform into a woman for the price of his cultivation.

"Why did you fail to concoct? Is there a reason?"

Kayako shook her head

"No, your majesty, I honestly don't know how I failed, I did everything as the formula said and used the best ingredients, it shouldn't have exploded"

She seemed to be telling the truth and besides, he knew that accidents happen when concocting pills or brewing potions.

"What pill did you two take to hide yourselves?"

"Pill of Amalac, your majesty, it would transform them into humans for a month, and because of this pill, their cultivation speed is much slower than normal people "

"You don't need to take the pill anymore, think of this place as a sanctuary for Astrels" They were shocked to their core as he called

"Arwen, Stodemar"

Ukita saw Arwen was leading a group of black-armored men into the throne hall.

"Show yourselves"

Arwen's eyes went wide for a moment but then, he nodded and removed the mask as the black-armored men removed the helmets.

And just when the three of them saw the faces of Arwen and the black-armored men, they couldn't believe what they were seeing and their lids refused to bat.

"Elf"

Nanbu mumbled looking at Arwen's hair transforming into silver and ears getting pointier.

"Dwarves"

When they removed their helmets, the black armorers had split open as the dwarves jumped out of the suits and stood before them with their bulky bodies and long beards.

The rest of the black armors didn't open like the dwarves' but when they removed their helmets, the three of them saw various Astresl standing before them such as elves, demihumans, and a few half-elves.

"Me king, can we trust them ta keep our secret?"

Stodemar asked Don 

"Don't worry Stodemar, they are not what they look, she's a druid and he's a half-orc"

Don pointed at Kayako and Half-orc as Stodemar, Arwen and the Astrels stared at the bewildered.

"an' him?"

Stodemar pointed at Ukita

"He's human alright"

As he said, Don stood up from his throne

"I'm not good at beating around the bushes, you have to help me build a kingdom where the Astrels and humans can coexist, in return, I will get the justice for your students"

The three of them knew that he was not asking but ordering them, however, they had no choice other work for him and besides, with him, they would be at least safer from King Noa and not be tortured to death.

"We have nothing to lose anyway"

Ukita reminded Nanbu and Kayako as they slowly nodded.

Don was glad to see them agree as he would hate to kill them if they refused his proposal even after he had saved them from slavery. He hated ungrateful people and fortunately, they didn't refuse as any sane person would.

"Then we have only one thing left"

As he said, the oath-taker stone emerged out of his chest letting out a bright light.