Chapter 372 - Fina’s Predicament

Lucius's life after Cecil departed on his journey hadn't changed all that much. After he had officially joined the Little Kings, he had become much more active as an alchemist as more and more people joined their organization.

And because of this, Lucius was able to pull in a few promising young alchemists from the Alchemy Faction into the Little Kings. Now, he had his own team of alchemists that would help him concoct potions and pills for the Little Kings.

Of course, they weren't worked to the bone or anything since the products that they would produce would only be Intermediate to High ranked concoctions. Due to this, their time spent on actually making anything for the Little Kings' members was pretty limited because the organization's members would need to go out and find the ingredients first before they could do anything.

The normal healing potions and mana potions would be bought from the Alchemy Faction since Lucius didn't want to upset the balance of power that the Academy's factions had amongst each other.

Their organization could strictly be inferred to as a non-Academy organization since technically, the Little Kings wasn't an academy faction but an adventurer party.

Another little update was that he would be marrying his long-time fiancée, Velicia, very soon. Although the couple still didn't know exactly when, however, this was still good news to Cecil and he congratulated him.

After all was said and done, now was the topic of why Fina hadn't come over with them.

When Cecil asked them this, both Ainz and Lucius turned solemn. Seeing the change to their countenance, Cecil began wondering whether something wrong happened to her. He hoped she was okay because if something untoward had indeed happened to her, his wife, Lucia, would be very devastated to hear the news.

Aquafina was Lucia's best friend from the academy. After not hearing from her friend for so long, it would be tragic for Lucia if she heard some bad news about her. Ever since half a year ago, Lucia hadn't once received a call from Fina.

Even when she tried calling her, Fina would never answer so she was looking forward to seeing her once the Teleportation Gate was finished but unfortunately, her best friend didn't come.

Ainz was the one who answered Cecil's inquiry, "I guess it's better to just tell you the gist of things now than to have Eli give you a long explanation later. Fina didn't come because citizens from her country...had found sightings of the Fallen..."

"W-what?!" Cecil exclaimed in shock.

"You heard me, the Fallen were sighted at the Neftersea Empire..."

"...has this been confirmed? Was there truly any Fallen sighted at her Empire?"

"Well... it's only a rumor, but some undersea villages around the Neftersea archipelago did report sightings of some strange creatures that had twisted and ghastly appearances. They closely resembled the descriptions of the Fallen but we haven't seen any actual recording or drawing, however, Fina didn't want to take any chances and immediately returned to her country, that's why she's not here."

Cecil went deep into thought before cursing out, "...Damn, even if it is just a rumor, but the possibility of the sightings being the real deal still poses a problem... and if they were real, then that means—"

"—the prophecy that the World Tree showed you might be—no, is definitely correct... a prophecy of the future that holds the complete and total ruination of our world..." Lucius finished.

"...Who else knows about this?"

"We told the Headmaster who had then informed the King and Lucia's mother..." Ainz answered.

"And their responses?"

"Well, the King only questioned why you hadn't informed anyone else sooner... no one else has been informed and we're still waiting for confirmation from Fina on whether or not the sightings were that of the Fallen. We don't want to cause unrest just because of a rumor but the kingdom has already begun producing more weapons and training up more soldiers just in case. Also, the King has forces ready to mobilize at a moment's notice once Fina confirms that those sightings are that of the Fallen."

"...What did my mother-in-law say?" Cecil asked.

Ainz shook his head and said, "She hadn't reacted much... but the Sage from the library did have a few questions. I think he'll be arriving in the next batch of beastkin that are going to be teleported over. He has many questions he wants to ask of you."

"So the old guy was also informed, huh? Well, it's not like I have much to answer... I only saw a vision, nothing more. I wasn't able to gain any information about it except for the fact that the united front of humans, northerners, beastfolk, spiritfolk, and demonkin...were losing..."

Ainz and Lucius turned gloomy hearing him say this. At least from what Cecil saw, the many races of the world had still lost even after they had all united to fight against the Fallen.

Cecil's earlier happy mood had dampened and so did his two friends. He quickly cleared his throat and tried to uplift the mood again but to no avail. Luckily for him, Lucia called out to the boys from the workshop's first floor informing them that dinner was ready.

"Cel, dinner's ready! Come down now!"

"Ah, well, looks like dinner's ready boys. Let's go grab ourselves some grub!"

"Yeah, let's do that," Ainz replied with a slight smile.

"Hmhm~ I've quite missed Lucia's unique tasting foods. I'll be looking forward to this~" Lucius joyfully said.

"Sorry to say this, but Lulu wasn't the one cooking, remember?"

"Eh? Oh... yeah... She had left to go talk with the girls earlier... so I guess your family's chef made it?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, you'll be those unique cuisines alright!"

'Because technically I'm the person who asked Lulu to copy Earth's foods,' Cecil continued inwardly.

The 3 quickly went down and Cecil sealed up the workshop's secret third floor. They quickly went to the dining hall and everyone had a really enjoyable dinner. Cecil found it quite amusing to see Elizabeth putting food on Ainz's plate.

When he saw them act that way, he was finally convinced that those two were a couple. Velicia and Lucius were the same as always. It was a nice evening for everyone and after the dinner, the former and current members of Little Kings along with Serilla, all gathered together in the mansion's living room to have a nice long chat.

Naturally, the topic that was brought up was the matter regarding Fina's situation. Since Eli and Ainz had given Cecil, Lucia, and Serilla the rundown of what happened before the dinner, now they gathered to talk about the solution and the follow-up actions that should be taken.

Of course, before all that, they should discuss whether or not someone from their group should go over and help Fina out with the investigations. After 6 months since Fina left, they hadn't even heard a word from her, so it was quite worrying.

The good news was that Eli's elder sister, Manora, had also been informed of the prophecy by Elizabeth so she was currently helping Fina out with the investigations. The only problem was that 2 months ago, Fina had returned to the Empire's castle from the ocean side and no word has been heard from her ever since.

Manora would normally provide daily reports of how Fina was doing since the girl herself wasn't answering anyone's calls, but those reports have stopped ever since Fina was no longer seen after she returned to the castle.

Lucia was relieved that nothing had happened to her but she was worried because her best friend was now out of touch with everyone. Then there were the whispers that suggested she might be caught up in some political feud among the higher-ups of her nation.

"...I'm guessing that no one from Fina's kingdom, besides Manora and herself, know about the prophecy and what the Fallen sightings indicate towards?" Cecil asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, Fina has already informed her mother, the Empress," Eli replied.

"Really? Then why are they fighting amongst themselves and not doing anything to help Fina investigate these sightings?!" Lucia exclaimed in question.

"That's just the thing. 6 months ago when Fina returned to the Neftersea Empire, their military was immediately mobilized into the oceans to patrol the waters. I'm guessing that before their military began moving Fina had already told the Empress about the prophecy and the possible sightings of the Fallen so this caused the Neftersea Military to begin moving."

"Okay, and?"

"That's when things started getting out of hand. The Neftersea Empire's military mobilization had put the Orca Empire and the Gigantes Kingdom on guard. Also, the human's Tempest Kingdom has also begun showing movement in response to the Neftersea Empire's activities."

"Why?"

This time, it was Ainz who replied, "That's because they think that the Neftersea Empire might have found the lost ruins of Oceania."

"What's that?" Lucia immediately questioned. Cecil was also quite curious as to what these ruins were so he showed a rather intrigued look. To him, it smelled like adventure...and also an opportunity to get away from home for a while.

Serilla, who was next to her, answered her sister's question.

"Listen, Lulu, before the Neftersea Oceanic Empire existed, there were actually two superpowers that ruled the seas around the two continents of Midgard and Urrugdrasil. Naturally, one of the superpowers was called the Neftersea Empire and the other, the Oceania Empire."

"Huh? W-Wait a minute! What's the difference between those two empires and the current empire? The 3 sounds the same, except that—ohhh!" Lucia exclaimed after she realized something.

"Yup, it's just like you thought. The present Empire is actually a union of the two former empires."

"I see, I see... So, what caused these two empires to unite?"

"A natural disaster," Eli answered.

"That's right. It was caused by a natural disaster, or so the records say," Serilla said before continuing, "From the records, it said that the God and Goddess of the Sea, Erh'kanu and Aqui'finnah, were both having a cataclysmic battle in the sea, close to the Oceania archipelago before it was sunk into the sea by the aftermath of the battle."

When Cecil heard the word, 'god' and 'goddess', he immediately asked, "A god and goddess fought each other?"

"Well, technically darling, they aren't gods or goddesses. The two were just the ancient monster overlords of the world's northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere's seas."

"Oh! So they're monsters?" Cecil excitedly asked.

Seeing how excited her husband was, Serilla narrowed her eyes and answered, "Yes darling, the two are Cataclysmic-ranked monsters, monsters far above that of SSS rank. They can destroy civilizations and sink entire landmasses if they so choose to..."

"So the result of their battles destroyed the Oceania Empire?"

"...Yes, that's what happened. The survivors of Oceania naturally traveled to the Neftersea Empire, which, according to history, welcomed them with open arms. The Oceania's Emperor was not among the survivors, but his family was. At the time, the present crown princess of Neftersea fell in love with one of the Oceania's princes who had come to seek refuge in her country. From there, the Oceania royal family suggested that the two get married to unite the two Empires together, effectively forming the Neftersea Oceania Empire, which was later renamed as the Neftersea Oceanic Empire."

"Ooh, so that's what happened... and?"

"Well, that's it? Oh, I also do have to mention that the present Neftersea Empire remained a matriarchy and that the Oceania Empire was a rather technologically advanced Empire that had created technology that enabled them to conquer the seas and explore the dark abyss of the oceans!" Serilla quickly added.

"...Maybe their meddling into the sea encroached on the two Ocean Gods which resulted in their fight which then led to the Oceania Empire's destruction?" Lucia offhandedly said. Eli, who heard this, immediately replied to her statement.

"Many historians say that this may be the case. The Oceania Empire had, unknowingly or knowingly, incited for the two monsters to attack each other which was why they were so close to their nation. The result however was only the destruction of their nation's lands."

"Okay, so back to the topic of Fina's Empire having found the Oceania Empire's ruins! What's so wrong about that?" Cecil asked.

"Didn't I tell you earlier, darling? The Oceania Empire was technologically advanced! Their magic-tech was so advanced that they could explore the ocean's depths uninhibited, despite many dangerous ocean creatures threatening them from all sides!"

Cecil turned to Elizabeth and asked, "...So the 3 other powers that are now on alert due to the Neftersea Oceanic Empire's recent activities... wants to find these ruins for themselves?"

"Yes."

"Okay—oh, and let me guess, the Oceania side of the Empire is now trying to seize control of the operation, saying that it was once their empire's lands so that they should be the ones in charge of claiming it back and exploring their motherland only so that they could monopolize all of their former empire's technological advances to get back some power for their side of the Empire, right? Also, since they don't want the Empress's daughter to be snooping around, so they 'imprisoned' her in some way. It this is indeed the case, it explains why Fina hasn't been able to get a word out to us..."

"Y-yeah—"

Before Elizabeth could say anything more, Cecil quickly continued.

"And as for her MID, which she could use to inform us about her current state of things, since my new and improved MIDs have already circulated in the Empire and by now, everyone knows that it could be used for long-distance communications, so it was most likely taken away from her right when she got back home, right?"

After sharing his analysis, he looked around and saw his friends eyeing him with complete surprise. Not minding their shocked countenances, Cecil continued.

"Although, in hindsight. This is just a complete misunderstanding caused by the Empress mobilizing the Empire's forces to patrol the waters to try and confirm the sightings of the Fallen... hmmm... how troublesome. I bet those people from the Oceania's side won't believe whatever kind of excuse Fina's mother will give saying that she's only trying to keep the truth away from them so that the Neftersea side could go ahead and monopolize their ruined nation's technology..."

"T-that's what we've at least deduced for now but wait a minute! Cecil, w-when did you understand such complicated political schemes?!" Eli exclaimed in shock.

Cecil shrugged and said, "It's the perk of becoming a prominent family's future patriarch, I naturally had to learn and the weirdest thing was that something similar just happened to my family not too long ago. Naturally, it's all been taken care of."

"I-is that so..."

"Yup, so now comes the most important question. Are we going to go over and support Fina, or not? If we are, then how can we?"