Child of Destiny

...

The entire expedition team gathered at the spot that the location that had been indicated by Lycan. And when they arrived, Shin quickly explained the situation to them once again, so that they could further understand the nature of their Empire Quest.

After that, they helped Lycan bury his master, Lupus Steel. They waited patiently for the wolf to finish bidding his farewell, before listening to his continued narrations about the background of their quest.

...

"King Cassius I was a greedy man. The God of Winter clearly saw that and used that desire to manipulate the king."

"When the relationship between the Saint Heaven Kingdom and the Draconian Kingdom became deeper as time went by. The former was even being protected by the Draconians whenever the neighboring countries tried to launch an invasion."

"Then one day, the big betrayal happened. It was when King Grey invited his 'friend', King Cassius I, to witness one of the most important events of the Draconian Kingdom, the Bloodline Ascension Ritual."

"Draconians were not as simple as ordinary worshippers since they received a blessing from the Dragons, some of them even carried the blood of dragons. And with that ritual, those individuals would awaken their bloodline powers and become much stronger than they already been."

"This is another important event for the Draconians of that time. But it didn't restrict them from inviting other people to spectate. They were confident that the dragon overseeing the ritual would be able to handle any kind of trouble that could occur."

Hearing this part, Arthur couldn't help but clicked his tongue as he gave his remark. "Dragon Worshippers follow the teaching of the dragons, so it is natural for them to be too confident in everything they do."

Even someone like him could instantly guess what happened next, and it was immediately confirmed by Lycan's next words.

"The first king of Saint Heaven Kingdom agreed to the invitation without any hesitation. He even suggested bringing his family with him at that time."

"King Grey didn't find any problem with it, so he agreed with it."

"And since the Royal Family is heading to the Draconian Kingdom, they brought the King's army on the pretext of 'protecting' them."

Reaching this point, everyone in the group couldn't help but close their eyes as they could already imagine what happened next.

"The Blood Ascension Ritual proceeded as scheduled, but during the most critical time, King Cassius I suddenly appeared at the altar and pushed King Grey away from it. And because of that, he was the one who received the blessing of the Dragon instead."

"But it didn't just end there. The Guardian Dragon of the Draconian Kingdom was not someone who would miss such a threat during the ritual, so should be able to sense that someone was coming before it could happen."

"But for it not to do anything and failed the upcoming disaster was definitely something strange. It just died right after it gave its blessing to King Cassius I."

"Confused at what was happening, King Grey couldn't respond in time to prevent the disaster from happening. It was the same for the other Dragon Worshippers who were present at that time."

"King Cassius I, on the other hand, gained the authority of a dragon. And with that authority, he suppressed the powers of the Dragon Worshippers while ordering his army to slaughter them all."

"King Cassius I wanted to bury everything by annihilating the Draconians. At the same time, he wanted to strengthen his family's bloodline by nurturing it with the corpse of the guardian dragon."

"They then ate the meat of that dragon for years while also bathing themselves in the dragon's blood. That was how the first royal family of the Saint Heaven Kingdom become powerful."

Lycan paused for a brief moment to inhale deeply before continuing. "King Cassius I tried his hardest to hide the truth by killing all of the witnesses. He even eliminated the soldiers that he had brought during that time one after another. As for his family, he erased a portion of their memory with his dragon authority."

"Starting from that point, he fabricated a 'story' of how he gained the powers of the dragons and what 'happened' to the Draconian Kingdom."

"He manipulated the history which led to the Draconians being forgotten."

Arthur couldn't help but wear a deep frown when he learned how the Saint Heaven Kingdom rose in power. He even started to consider the royal family as his enemies. With that kind of background, it was impossible for the Dragons to be on friendly terms with them.

But while he was contemplating about that, Lycan suddenly turned to him and spoke. "It is still too early to consider the entire Royal Family as an enemy of the Dragons."

"Because there was a single member of the Royal Family who managed to uncover the truth. I am not sure who was that person but he was the reason how we learned about this forgotten history."

"We followed the traces that he left which led us to the things that we didn't know. That person's name was not recorded in the books and records that he left behind. But based on what was written on them, we learned that he was treated as the traitor of the royal family and kicked out of the palace."

"But he knew that it was not going to end there, so he brought his whole family and went in hiding. It was the wisest choice that he could get since he knew that he couldn't beat the current King Cassius I."

"But despite all of the odds being against him, his desire to save the whole Royal Family and the entire Saint Heaven Kingdom under the reign of such a wicked king didn't change."

"Because of this, he created a mercenary identity so that he could roam freely around the kingdom while gathering some information. And after a few years of his journey and he built a pretty solid reputation."

Faker as an assassin and with his instincts immediately guess what happened while Shin came up with the same conclusion and voices out those thoughts. "He then slowly revealed the truth about the misdeeds of King Cassius I by spreading them as a 'rumor'."

Lycan nodded his head and continued. "He then started a coup to de-throne King Cassius I. And with the help of the powerful companions that he had, they successfully kicked out that wicked king from his throne and executed him while also revealing the truth to the world."

"Did he forget about the involvement of the God of Winter, or he is clueless about them from the very beginning?" asked Shin all of a sudden.

Lycan laughed bitterly before continuing. "Of course, he was aware of that fact but he didn't blatantly voice it out. After all, he knew his limit. He was aware that he couldn't oppose a god."

"Instead, he refused to sit on the throne and become the new king while choosing the pure yet talented third prize at that time."

"Naturally, there were some officials who disagree with him and rejected his choice. But that person already predicted it and quickly offered a proposition."

"And his proposal was inviting multiple religions to take root at the Saint Heaven Kingdom and let the Third Price swore an oath with their respective gods in exchange for them overseeing their Kingdom."

"Hah!" Shin couldn't help but laugh after hearing that and started to admire that unnamed person. "That is pretty clever! He dodged the eyes of the God of Winter by refusing the throne while also inviting the other gods to set their attention on this place."

"With them having a close watch on the Saint Heaven Kingdom, the God of Winter will not pull any kind of funny business."

"In the meantime, the opposition couldn't reject his suggestion since the strength and influence of those churches would help the whole kingdom grow. It is too much of a good choice for them to refuse."

Lycan nodded his head and agreed. "Inviting the other churches was a tough task to achieve. But since that person had a pretty good reputation, he managed to persuade their friends to help him."

"He had a lot of connections, and the churches would never refuse such an opportunity since they could spread the teaching of their respective gods."

"It didn't take that long for the envoys of different churches to arrive at the Saint Heaven Kingdom and started the discussion about them building a branch of their respective church in the Kingdom."

"After that, that mysterious member of the Royal Family suddenly disappeared and never came back again."

The group now understood how the current Saint Heaven Kingdom was built. How they became a neutral kingdom and why there were a lot of churches rooted in it.

And while they were thinking about it, Lycan suddenly added. "But alongside his disappearance, the records about that man started to disappear as time went by. And after a few more years, everything about him was erased in the history books as if he never had existed."

"Tsk! It must be that God of Winter again. She really didn't want her humiliation to be known to everyone," commented Arthur with full disgust.

On the other hand, Shin seemed to be thinking about something else before asking. "Wait! A few things don't add up!"

"If everything about that man is erased in the history books, then how do you learn about all of this? On top of that, you should have no idea about the real identity of the Vampires of this land if that is the case!"

Lycan smiled at Shin after his on-point remark. He then nodded his head and answered. "Of course, there is no way for us to learn about it. We even don't know the real nature of the God of Winter when we arrived in this land."

"We all came here with a single purpose, and that was to eradicate all of the so-called spawns of evil demons that were spreading chaos in here."

"But all of it suddenly changed when the Grand Marshal and his companion met yet another mysterious individual similar to that 'missing' person."

...