Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Elaine's Weapon
Honestly, I was surprised by how lenient the punishment was as compared to other groups that would kill both the parents and the child. In the rare case of killing everyone involved, we were much more forgiving, though we did kill the parent and separated the child.
"T-That was more merciful than I anticipated; I was ready for you to inform me that we would kill them all if I'm being honest." Said Elif, not sure how to really feel about the whole situation.
"We're not that inhumane to our own people; we would almost never kill a Royal Elf; doing so would greatly weaken the next couple of generations to be born, and it is just not worth it." Said Maria as she finally let Elif go, to which he quickly escaped and sat back in his seat.
"Elfs can give birth asexually? I didn't know that." Commented Elif, wondering why that information wasn't in the book 'Species of the OverRealm'.
"No, Elfs can't. Once you reach a high enough level of cultivation, it is possible to reproduce asexually. Still, if someone from a species that is meant to produce sexually gives birth asexually, their offspring's talent will be greatly limited." Explained Marcus.
"Well, I guess that was some good information to know?" Muttered Elif shivering as he imagined himself giving birth asexually.
"I think I've learned enough information for today; I'm going to retire to my room." Said Elif, feeling weird about the whole conversation.
"Wait, Elif, how long do you anticipate it'll take you to advance to the Divine realm?" Asked Maria, figuring now would be an excellent time to have Elif experience something.
"Hmm, I've just recently advanced to the peak of the Half-step Divine, and given that the Divine realm is next, which means I'll have to be extra prepared, I'll estimate about four months, possibly five. Why the sudden interest, mother?" Said Elif with a thinking expression.
"Nothing, I just figured now wouldn't be a bad time to send you off." Muttered Maria, causing Marcus to quickly catch on to what she meant.
"You think now is the best time for that? You know he'll vehemently refuse the idea, especially since he'll miss Elaine going through her first Heavenly Tribulation." Said Marcus, surprised she'll pick right now as the time.
"I know; that's why I was going to send him off after Elaine had succeeded her Heavenly Tribulation; otherwise, I doubt he'd be willing to leave." Stated Maria, to which Marcus now saw nothing wrong with her idea.
"What are you both talking about?" Asked Elif curiously as he heard his name being mentioned while standing by the exit, fanning himself with his quạt tay.
"We'll tell you after Elaine has succeeded in her Heavenly Tribulation; also, make sure to summon your follower, Idonea." Said Marcus as he stood up and vanished from his spot, Maria following right behind him, leaving a confused and curious Elif all alone.
'Ok, I guess I'll just head to my room?' Thought Elif with a shake of his head as he left the dining room with Illumia and headed back to his room.
Of course, I checked on Elaine on my way back to my room, though she was nowhere to be found, much to my confusion since, with how excited she was about cultivation, I figured she would be in her room cultivating.
"Her highness had advanced to the Foundation Establishment realm while you were conversing with their Majesties, your highness." Said Illumia, causing Elif to realize why his parents so quickly disappeared.
"Tch, they're at the treasury, aren't they? And they didn't even bother informing me, whatever; I'll wait in Elaine's room until she returns; it shouldn't take too long." Muttered Elif in annoyance as he hovered over Elaine's bed and started cultivating; however, Elif failed to realize that his first visit to the treasury was a one-of-a-kind experience, having not even taken an hour to accomplish everything.
While cultivating, your perception of time is significantly distorted, making what feels like a minute actually be a few hours. Thus, I only realized how long I had been cultivating for when I stopped and saw the night sky leaking through the windows.
'Tsk, I always get carried away when cultivating.' Thought Elif as he observed Elaine swinging around a large all-black scythe with a skeleton design, destroying several furniture and decorative items.
"Illumia, how long has it been since Elaine returned?" Asked Elif as he sat down in a chair beside Illumia and Maxim while they all watched Elaine violently swing around the scythe.
"Roughly thirty minutes, your highness." Answered Illumia as tea and snacks appeared on the table for Elif to enjoy.
"Thirty minutes? What were you two doing inside the treasury? Did Elaine check every scythe?" Asked Elif rhetorically, though the answer he got caused his face to twitch.
"Yes, she did, your highness." Answered Maxim.
'How could I forget? Not only did I awaken divine sense, but I also achieved sword intent, which greatly helped me accelerate the process; if I had just one of those, It probably would've taken me roughly the same amount of time as well.' Pondered Elif as he drank some tea while waiting for Elaine to notice him, which surprisingly took longer than usual.
"Brother! Look at the weapon I got!" Said Elaine after finally noticing Elif, all while roughly breathing.
"A scythe, an interesting weapon, at least more eye-catching than a sword. So, how do you like it?" Asked Elif in interest as he stood up and approached Elaine.
"It's awesome; it's super sharp, fast, and agile, and to top it all off, it looks menacing!" Said Elaine as she handed it over to Elif for him to try it out, though that might've been a bad idea.
With the scythe in hand, I swung it around a couple of times to get the feel of it, yet while I was swinging it around, it accidentally slipped out of my hands and embedded itself in the wall merely a few inches above Illumia's head.
"If this isn't too big of a request, could you only wield a sword from now on, your highness?" Asked Illumia blandly as she stared at Elif.
"T-That is probably a good idea, Illumia." Said Elif with a cough, feeling incredibly embarrassed at showing such a pathetic performance before Elaine.
"Brother, can you not wield a scythe!?" Asked Elaine in shock and surprise; from her perspective, Elif was great at everything, at least from what Elif had shown her.
"Haa, sadly no, you see Elaine, no matter how fantastic I am, I'm not perfect, and as such, there are things even I can not do. One of those things would be to wield a scythe and a chained mace. It would be best if I never actually held them in my hands." Said Elif disappointingly, muttering the last part to himself.
"Anyway, changing the topic, how was great-grandmother?" Asked Elif after Elaine had gotten her scythe out of the wall with Illumia's help.
"Incredibly nice and sweet, but she's even worse than grandmother with all the holding; I was practically being carried around the entire time while picking out my scythe." Complained Elaine as she hopped onto her bed after storing her scythe in her dimension ring.
"Yep, she is very clingy, one of the reasons why I rarely visit the treasury. So when do you plan on starting your training sessions?" Said Elif, though; when he asked that question, he went wide-eyed as he realized his beloved sister would be forced to go through the same thing he did on his first training day.
"Hmm, I don't know, but mother said the sooner, the better, so I guess why not tomorrow now that I got a weapon?" Answered Elaine casually, not even noticing the expression on Elif's face.
"Maxim, I'm going to assume, you'll be her training instructor, yes? Mind doing me a favor and not be as brutal as Illumia." Said Elif as he stared at Maxim through squinted eyes, though from the tone of his voice it sounded more like an order to which Maxim couldn't refuse.
"I'll indeed be her highness's training instructor, and sadly I can't as I was given orders personally by their Majesties, your highness." Replied Maxim, greatly irking Elif.
"Hmm, I'll be taking my leave, Elaine, and if you don't mind, I'll accompany you to the training grounds tomorrow." Said Elif kindly as he stood up and headed to the door with a forced smile.
"I don't mind; goodnight, brother." Replied Elaine, a little weirded out from how abruptly Elif left.
"Goodnight." Said Elif before walking out of the room, Illumia closing the door behind him.
The moment I stepped out of the room, my smile instantly vanished and was replaced by a frown, causing all the servants who would usually greet me to stay quiet and merely bow before continuing with their work.
"Prince Elif looked quite upset; what do you think happened?"
"I don't know, but I hope it was nothing serious."
We quickly reached my room, and once we were inside, I hovered over the bed, closed my eyes, and stayed in this position for several minutes before the silence was eventually broken.
"You do know this is something necessary for her highness." Said Illumia as she sat in one of the many chairs and waited for Elif to respond.
"I know, but she doesn't need to go through what I had gone through." Replied Elif while his eyes stayed shut.
"Not to be rude, your highness, but please tell me what you went through. You make it seem like what I did to you was terrible; I didn't even push you close to your limit back then, and not a single injury inflicted on you was deadly." Said Illumia seriously and with a tone that didn't belong to a maid speaking to a prince.
"I know, the occasional spars I do against you are much more brutal; however, while I know this is necessary for Elaine, that doesn't mean I want to ever see her injured." Stated Elif, finally opening his eyes and looking at Illumia.
"Just like his Majesty said, 'You'd much prefer seeing your sister injured on a gurney than somewhere dead on the battlefield because she didn't train properly'." Declared Illumia, much to Elif's annoyance.
"Tch, that saying wouldn't work here; even if Elaine didn't train properly, I'll always be there to protect her." Said Elif solemnly before closing his eyes and cultivating, though his words elicited a slight smile from Illumia.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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