Rosen was a man of his word. After he left the Void Senate, he entered Void Peak to seek an audience.
Even for the current Rosen, including all of his improvements, he couldn't casually come to this place without reason. And, even in the case he did have a reason, he still had to be respectful and patient. These individuals, the Void Elders, represented the very pinnacle of the human race. Together, the power they held was enough to be the face of the humans, and it surpassed any individual family.
If this wasn't the case, how could they dare to claim to raise the future generation of leaders?
The Void Elders were formed of a group of men and women with no affiliations to the large families or organizations. They were existences who, over the course of history, could have built up their own families and powers, but instead chose to forsake this path and become the beacon of humanity instead.
As a result of this, the Void Elders had no ties to the major families.
There was an obvious reason why this was a good thing. After all, this would ensure that the Void Elders didn't have any special ties to the students and didn't try to steer the Void Palace toward any particular direction. In fact, they were incentivized to ensure that the Void Palace remained power because only when the Void Palace was powerful would they have the backing they had forsaken after taking up their posts.
The sacrifice of the Void Elders didn't end here.
These characters weren't allowed to have relationships and they also weren't allowed to have children. Their entire lives were dedicated to the Void Palace.
Any new Void Elder was raised up directly from the Void Palace itself. They made their vows early and they were monitored and nurtured to replace the previous batch as they grew old and passed on.
Such individuals couldn't be affiliated with any power families or organizations before entering the Palace, and they were also the only ones who would receive the personal nurturing of the Void Elders. In fact, they couldn't even join Factions or Parties in their youths as this could be considered another form of forming relationships and potential biases in the future.
Leonel himself had met one such person before… This individual was none other than Cornelius.
Knowing all of this, it was no wonder why everyone was so respectful of the Void Elders. This respect was deeper than just their power, but it was also a function of their sacrifice.
If these individuals wanted, they could have formed powerful families of their own, adding to the chaos of the Human Domain. Instead, they chose peace and unity, laying down their pride and becoming just one piece of a greater whole.
The prestige of the Void Elders in the hearts of the masses was not small, and it was also due to this that Leonel's father wasn't very well liked as the only person who didn't give the Void Elders their due respect. But today, it seemed that another of the Morales family line would be smacking the faces of these exceptional characters as well.
…
Before Rosen stood three elders. Without fail, all three of them looked to be exceptionally frail, as though they might use the last of their Life Force at any moment. And yet, Rosen didn't dare to be the slightest bit disrespectful. Such individuals, the fact they seemed so ordinary was precisely what made them so fearsome. Their level of control was on a level all to their own.
Two of these elders were older women, with one of them being a man. Of them, only one of the women didn't use a cane, and all of them wore black robes embroidered in gold.
They gazed toward Rosen with murky eyes that carried a hint of anticipation. It was rare for these elders to be so curious and eager about something, and it was even rarer for three of them to appear for just a mere Rosen's request. Obviously, this was a special occasion to them.
How could it not be? The spatial storm phenomena had just come to an end a few months ago and they had already received a report that Leonel was back.
They were all certain that Leonel was the one who allowed all of them to return because his life signature was the absolute last to come back by a small fraction of a second, just after Aina's. This meant that he was the true core of everything that had happened.
Only a select few individuals knew of this, but they had all been waiting for Leonel to come back a long while now, all for over a month to pass since then. They had been worried that something went wrong, but luckily everything was just fine. Now they could finally get the answers they were hoping for.
"Void Elder Wimarc, Void Elder Galienne, Void Elder Lizbeth," Rosen bowed respectfully.
Much like Cornelius, even Void Elders were all called by their first names, their last names having been discarded.
Wimarc, the only male of them, waved a hand and smiled.
"No need for such formalities, just pass the pendants to us. We've been truly eager these last few days. It's rare for us older timers to have something to be excited about."
"About this…"
Rosen started slowly and explained the events from start to finish. He didn't embellish anything because he simply didn't have to. All that was necessary was to describe things exactly as they had occurred.
As Rosen continued along with his story, the smile on Wimarc's expression slowly faded. Although none of the three showed any fury or rage, their placid indifference placed a heavy weight on Rosen who wasn't even the subject of their potential anger.
Rosen summarized the events quickly.
"… I did not dare to make a decision personally, so I came here to speak to esteemed Void Elders."
The three Void Elders fell into silence, not answering immediately.