Extraordinary Rise: Starting Contract with the Silver Dragon Countess

Cohen remained expressionless, his fingers lightly stroking the teacup, seemingly oblivious to the implication in the other's words, and simply replied calmly:
"President, please speak freely if you have any urgent matters to discuss."

The palace is safe enough, and there are no outsiders here.

Seeing that Cohen seemed "uncomprehending", Chairman Buze's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

He paused for a moment, seemingly weighing his words, and finally leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice and making his tone more direct:
"Your Majesty, this matter... is of utmost importance and involves many complexities."

To avoid unnecessary involvement, this matter... can only be known to you.

His gaze was fixed on Cohen, clearly expressing his desire for Adele to leave.

Upon hearing this, Cohen reached out and naturally took Adele's hand, which was resting on her lap, their fingers intertwined. Only then did he look at Chairman Buze, his voice steady:
"President, I think you may have some misunderstandings."

There is nothing in my possession that needs to be kept from the Queen.

Adele is not only my wife and Queen of Effie, but also my most trusted partner, sharing my joys and sorrows, and being of one heart and mind with me.

She has the right to know anything I need to know, and she is also capable of sharing the burden with me.

Therefore, the president should speak frankly if he has anything to say.

For me, there are no secrets that can be known only to one person.

The wrinkles on President Buze's face seemed to deepen. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more.

His instructions were very clear: the matter had to be discussed with Cohen Corleone alone, and no third party could be present.

However, just as Chairman Buze was organizing his thoughts and trying to make one last effort—

Adel, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke softly.

Her voice was still clear and pleasant, but what she said struck President Buze like a thunderbolt, and his expression changed drastically.

"Someone sent you, didn't they? I sensed a hidden aura emanating from you."

President Buze's face drained of color, revealing extreme shock and disbelief.

Those brown eyes, which were always filled with compassion, were now wide open, staring intently at Adele, as if they were seeing this queen, who was famous throughout the continent for her beauty and extraordinary talent, for the first time.

"How could you... how could you...?"

His voice trembled with extreme shock, even carrying a hint of horror, "You're just... just a legendary-level being!"

Even with keen senses, how could one possibly perceive... such an existence...!

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was already crystal clear.

Adele accurately exposed the biggest secret of his trip.

He did indeed come to Florence carrying the will of "some being".

This secret was revealed by a mere legendary-level superhuman on their first meeting, without any deliberate investigation.

This completely overturned his understanding.

A flicker of surprise crossed Cohen's eyes the moment Yardelle spoke.

However, he trusted Adel's judgment and perception, and judging from President Buze's almost out-of-control reaction, Adel's guess was probably spot on.

And the only entity capable of "assigning" the president of the Holy Healing Order, a saint-level being, to personally run errands, and to be so secretive about it, even requesting a private meeting, is probably...

Adele subtly shielded Cohen behind her and said coldly:

"The Holy God of Healing, Charles Wilson!"
A mid-level deity dared to secretly project his image down at such a sensitive time.

"That's interesting, come out!"

Adele's cold and sharp words echoed like the tolling of a judgment bell in the serene Emerald Hall.

Every word was like a heavy hammer blow, striking the heart of Keldon Boozer, the Superior General of the Holy Healing Order, and also seemed to touch the sensitive nerve of some higher being hidden behind the scenes.

Before the shock and horror on President Buze's face had faded, the seemingly ordinary oak cane in his hand and the faded linen robe he was wearing suddenly underwent a strange change.

A soft, solid, pure white light, like mercury spilling from the tip of his oak cane, permeated every fiber of his robe.

The light was not dazzling, but it carried a pure, gentle, and sacred aura that seemed to soothe all pain and purify all filth, instantly filling the entire Emerald Hall.

The light quickly gathered in front of President Buze, and a moment later, a clear figure stepped out from the light and stood beside President Buze.

He was a middle-aged man with a gentle face but eyes that held the marks of countless years of vicissitudes.

His clothing and appearance bear a striking resemblance to Chairman Buze, but his demeanor is more profound and reserved.

He looked like an ascetic walking among men, a compassionate physician.

The Holy God of Healing, Charles Wilson, a mid-level deity, manifested in the human world through a projection of divine power!

However, this projection of a deity, which should have been infinitely majestic, showed no trace of the indifference and aloofness that a deity should have when descending. Instead, it was filled with undisguised surprise and uncertainty.

His gaze was fixed on Adele, filled with inquiry and confusion, and even a hint of... gravity that he himself was unaware of.

"Who...who are you?"

Even if a legendary mortal had some special relationship with the Ice Goddess Daphne, she should never possess such terrifyingly sharp perception.

It is even more inappropriate to display such a detached, even slightly scrutinizing, attitude when facing the projection of a deity!

Faced with the direct gaze and questioning of the divine projection, Adel's exquisite face remained calm and undisturbed, even more indifferent than before.

She showed no fear or reverence at the deity's appearance; instead, she slightly raised her chin, a gesture not of arrogance, but of an inherent dignity.
"Now Madora should be personally overseeing the main passage between the divine realm and the prime plane."

Your projection was able to penetrate His perception, but you must have paid a considerable price and it won't last long.

I imagine you didn't risk coming here just to find out who I am!

Charles's projected body trembled almost imperceptibly, a deeper surprise flashing across his gentle face, along with an indescribable complex emotion.

The woman in front of him, who called herself Adel Angelion, was becoming increasingly eerie to him.

Her words, her demeanor, her seemingly all-knowing and unperturbed presence even in the face of deities, and even the ancient, majestic, and unique aura she exuded, as if she were high above the clouds, all made him, a deity of middling power, feel a strange unease.

This is so unusual!
He was a mid-level deity, and even in front of the supreme god, he would not feel this vague sense of oppression, as if facing a higher level of being, originating from the essence of life.

But before him was clearly just a legendary-level mortal woman, a student of the Ice Goddess Daphne?

how can that be!

The pressure Daphne herself exerted on him was perhaps not as profound and unfathomable as the natural aura emanating from the woman before him!
But Adele is right.

He didn't have time.

Forcibly breaking through the barriers of Madora's control to smuggle down a wisp of projection containing a portion of consciousness and divine power to possess his devout follower and representative in the human world, Buze, was an immense risk in itself, and the cost was also extremely high.

The time he can maintain the projection and communicate clearly is extremely limited.

Every minute and every second was wasting his precious divine power and exploiting loopholes in the rules.

He certainly couldn't waste any more time trying to uncover the identity of this mysterious queen, even though it filled him with unprecedented doubt and vigilance.

Charles quickly calmed himself down, temporarily suppressing his surprise and curiosity.

His gaze slowly shifted to Cohen, who was standing side by side with Adel.

Compared to Adele's unfathomable depth and majesty, the young king before him, with his black hair, black eyes, and upright posture, also possessed a profound aura and inner strength.

After a brief silence, Charles spoke directly:
"Your Majesty Corleone, the woman who ascended the throne in the Lost Lands and rebuilt the Arcane Empire, named Mavis Tinuvel... she is your woman, isn't she?"

Upon hearing this, the air in the Jade Hall seemed to freeze for a moment.

Cohen's eye twitched almost imperceptibly, and he nearly lost his composure.

He instinctively wanted to glare at Charles—what was wrong with this god of healing?

Is it really necessary to speak so bluntly?

Is it possible to ask such a question in this kind of setting, in front of my wife, with such certainty?
Although... it was true to some extent, this kind of "claiming sovereignty" question made Cohen feel like he was being roasted over a fire, especially with Adele's calm and unwavering gaze beside him, which sent a chill down his spine.

He forcefully suppressed the urge to complain, keeping a straight face and only coughing lightly as if he had choked on his tea, thus covering up the embarrassment of that moment.

Then he looked up, met Charles's gaze, and asked in a calm tone:
"What does Your Majesty mean by this? What does it have to do with your arrival today? Please explain." He neither admitted nor denied it, but instead threw the question back at the man, while making it clear—stop with the nonsense and get to the point.

Charles didn't seem to care about Cohen's evasion, or rather, he didn't need Cohen's personal admission.

He nodded slightly, his gaze deepening, and began to speak. His voice was not loud, but bathed in a sacred light, it carried a heavy weight, as if unveiling a long-forgotten history:

"Not long ago, in the realm of the gods, because Mephis Tinuvel ascended the throne and opened the 'Crown of Stars,' confirming his legitimate bloodline as the royal family of the Arcane Empire, several ancient beings—the god of darkness Erebus, the god of truth and memory Lothien Hidden, the god of battle and war Ares Beaconfire, the god of sky and storm Silowa Roar, and other gods—had a debate and speculation."

He spoke at a steady pace, yet each word was clear, recounting the debates that had taken place in the divine realm regarding Mephisto's ascension to the throne and the revival of the Arcane Empire, including the truth behind the empire's downfall—the Well of All Laws was corrupted, and the gods were ordered to "purify" it, which led to its collapse and the empire's source of power being severed.

These are shocking secrets that are considered earth-shattering by ordinary people, and they are slowly revealed.

Cohen listened quietly, his face as calm as still water, but a storm seemed to be brewing in the depths of his deep eyes.

Although he had already guessed about the fall of the Arcane Empire from Mavis's grandfather's last words and the scattered information from the "Crown of Stars," the feeling was completely different when he heard it from a deity, firsthand, about the "purification" operation that caused the instant collapse of a glorious magical civilization, and the gods' deep reluctance and suspicion about the matter.

This was not merely the fall of an empire, but the annihilation of countless lives and the end of a glorious civilization. And the cause of all this was that the gods sought to purify the polluted Well of All Laws.
“…If it weren’t for Her Majesty the Goddess of Light, Aetheril, who intervened forcefully and threatened to start a divine war to suppress this matter,” Charles’s voice pulled Cohen back to reality, his gaze fixed on Cohen, “I’m afraid that right now, it wouldn’t just be me, a stray projection, talking to you here.”

Certain beings, still clinging to the bloodline of the Arcane Empire's royal family, may have already sent their avatars or even their very will to the Prime Material Plane to verify the true origins of that Empress!

Charles's words carried an undisguised warning.

Cohen listened quietly, his face showing no surprise, fear, or anger. Only his eyes became even deeper, as if they could devour all light.

He remained silent for a moment, seemingly processing the information and assessing the motives of the Holy God of Healing in telling him this.

Then, he raised his head, his gaze calmly fixed on the projection of light emanating from Charles, his tone revealing no emotion:
"I see. Thank you, Your Majesty, for revealing these...secrets of the divine realm."

However, His Holiness the Holy Healer went to great lengths, breaking the rules and risking being discovered by His Holiness Madora, to send his projection down to find me. Surely he wasn't just there to be a… messenger?

Faced with Cohen’s unusually calm counter-question, Charles felt a strange, absurd feeling rise in his mind—who is the god after all?

Why is it that in front of this mortal couple, I, a projection carrying divinity and will, feel a sense of being scrutinized, questioned, and even urgently needing to explain my own motives?

A golden peak capable of slaying a legendary-level expert, a legendary queen with uncanny perception... no matter how special they are, they are ultimately just mortals.

I am a god of medium divine power, in charge of healing and purification, and I am considered a prominent figure in the divine realm!

When would one need to feel this stifling sense of "being seen through" and "needing to prove oneself" in the court of a mortal kingdom, facing two ordinary people?
However, reason allowed him to quickly suppress this sense of absurdity and displeasure.

He was running out of time. Madora's perception was like an invisible net, and his smuggled projection was like a fish trying to hide its presence in the net, which could be detected at any moment.

We can no longer dwell on the couple's unusual composure and sharpness.

Charles refocused his gaze on Cohen, his voice becoming deeper and his pace quickening:

"Your Majesty Corleone, even the God of Darkness and the like do not believe it."

But I can confirm that Mavis Tinuvel is the true, pure royal bloodline of the Arcane Empire from ten thousand years ago!
Moreover, she is not a descendant whose bloodline has been diluted and passed down through generations; she... is a person from that era!
That era of both glory and destruction, the survivors...orphans!

Upon hearing this, even Cohen, with his composure, had his pupils suddenly contract.

He has always kept the secret of Mavis and Melantha's origins.

This was the first time he had heard such a clear and truthful assertion from an outsider, and a deity at that.

Moreover, the other party seems to know even more!

Charles didn't keep them in suspense; he spoke even faster, as if he were about to reveal a secret that had been suppressed for millennia:

"Before its fall, the Arcane Empire's magical civilization had reached realms beyond our comprehension."

Among them, there is a technique that is listed as the most taboo: the interference with and partial sealing of time itself!
They couldn't reverse the flow of time, nor could they create a real time machine, but... they found a way, a way that came at a great cost.

It can almost freeze the time of an individual's life within a very small local area.

Like sealing a vibrant flower in the purest crystal, placing it in a state of near-absolute stillness, metabolism, soul fluctuations, and even the flow of consciousness are slowed down to near a standstill, thus traversing countless years!

If my guess is correct... Mavis Tinuvel was not sealed away as an adult or a child.

She applied this forbidden time-stasis seal before the collapse of the 'Well of All Laws' and the large-scale annihilation of the royal bloodline imprint, perhaps even at the very moment of the collapse, while she was still an infant!
This seal froze her life state, soul imprint, and bloodline origin at that point in time.

It wasn't until recent decades, perhaps when the energy of the seal was finally exhausted, or perhaps when a pre-set release condition was triggered, that she was able to thaw and begin to grow again.

Appearing in this era, appearing right before you!

Charles finished recounting his understanding of the Arcane Empire based on his clerical knowledge and his speculations following the previous debate on the divine realm, then stared intently at Cohen, remaining silent.

Cohen neither confirmed nor denied Charles's inference.

He spoke slowly, his voice even lower than before, carrying a sense of impending doom:

"Your Holiness, what do you want from all this you've told me?"

Charles replied in a deep voice:
"Your Majesty Corleone, put away your doubts and probing."

I am here today solely to have an open and honest conversation with you, to seek a collaboration that might... change the course of the future!

He paused slightly, seemingly to organize his thoughts, or perhaps to suppress some deeper emotion, before continuing:

"Your Majesty, you may believe that gods are eternal and immortal, and are high above you."

But the realm of the gods... is not the pure land that ordinary people imagine.

The struggle for power, authority, faith, and ideology has never ceased.

As for me, Charles Wilson, the God of Healing, I am merely a mid-level deity.

In the foreseeable catastrophe of the future, for someone of my strength and with such a detached divine position, to survive unscathed would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

I am not as powerful as Erebus, the god of darkness, who controls the source of darkness and possesses extremely aggressive power, nor do I have the foundation of Aetheril, the goddess of light, who holds fundamental authority and has a large number of followers.

It lacks the convenience of seizing power in chaotic times, unlike the main gods such as war and storms.

I am in charge of healing and purification. In times of peace and prosperity, I may live a quiet life in a secluded corner, saving lives and accumulating good deeds.

But when catastrophe strikes, order collapses, and war and destruction run rampant, healing and purification are often among the first powers to be trampled upon and the most vulnerable to self-defense.

Charles's projected light flickered slightly, as if reflecting the turmoil in his heart:

“I do not want to get involved in pointless disputes, and I do not want to see my believers and my religious order become cannon fodder or be used as tools by certain beings in possible future divine wars or disasters that affect the Lord’s plane.”

My lifelong pursuit is nothing more than to alleviate the suffering of all beings through the art of healing.

But if you can't even protect yourself, how can you protect others?
Therefore, I have come here today to seek cooperation, to seek a way of life that may allow me and my tradition to continue amidst future turmoil, and even to continue practicing my path!
"And you, Cohen Corleone," Charles said with a strange certainty, "you are the 'path to survival' I chose!"

Cohen: "..."

Even with Cohen's composure, he felt as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer, and a brief sense of astonishment and absurdity washed over him.

A deity of medium power, who holds the authority of "healing" and "purification," and has a large following and a transcendent organization called the Holy Healing Order in the mortal realm, actually... came to him, the king of the mortal world.

His words were earnest, even tinged with a plea for help, asking for cooperation? He even saw him as a way out?

Her charm, or rather her potential, had become so great that a god of middling power would risk breaking the rules and secretly projecting into the mortal realm just to come and surrender or seek refuge.

Did they pick up the wrong script?
Cohen almost lost control of his facial expressions. He forcibly suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, his brows furrowed slightly, and the sharpness in his eyes increased rather than decreased:

"Your Majesty, you think too highly of me."

I, Cohen Corleone, am but the king of a newly emerging nation on the human continent, but how can I become your 'path of life'—a noble deity?
Why are you so certain that you're betting your chips on me?

Charles's projection flickered, appearing even fainter, and his voice took on a barely perceptible urgency:

“I have my reasons for doing this, and now I only have one question for you.”

Your Majesty Corleone, would you be willing to accept my proposal for cooperation?

Yes or no?

In a flash, countless thoughts raced through Cohen's mind.

Partnering with a deity carries enormous risks, but the potential rewards are immeasurable.

In particular, this deity holds the power of "healing" and "purification," and its human representative organization, the Holy Healing Order, has a near-monopoly in the mainland medical field and unimaginable connections.

In the coming chaos, the implications are self-evident! (End of Chapter)