SON OF THE HERO KING

Paintings of Mars, sculptures of Mars, Mars plushy, Mars on the wall. Even some music partitions were named 'an ode to Mars.'

For a very short moment, Sol had even begun to wonder if he was under an illusion.

He had always known how much in love she had been with his father, but he never knew it had reached such a deep level.

"Man, this world is really full of crazy women."

Once again, he really began to wonder if something in their blood drew crazy women.

Still, those paintings didn't just frighten him. It also made him doubt all her previous words.

Would someone with such a heavy love really give up on a way to resurrect her loved one? It was truly a hard question to answer and he didn't know enough about her to answer.

After all, if Gerald was really ready to sacrifice him to save his granddaughter, why would the duchess hesitate?

"I feel like my life is becoming more complicated by the minute."

"Your highness?"

"Nothing, let's go to the church before going home."

He didn't want to take any risks, and he had some questions. Some very important questions.

----

[Church of Castitas]

"Aunt, I received a report saying that Sol entered the territory of the church. It shouldn't take long for him to reach here."

Camelia, who was laying down weakly in her bed, woke up abruptly when she heard those murmur in her head.

"Is it true!?"

Without waiting for an answer, she rushed toward a mirror but immediately swore like a sailor when she saw what she looked like.

Because of the ritual, she was preparing and she had been continuously staying awake and using her power.

Right now, her hair was unkempt and frizzled, her robe was crumbled and stained with blood, she had heavy bags under her eyes, and she was pretty sure that she stank.

"Shit."

Cursing once again, she turned to face Chloe.

"Go stall for time."

"But…"

"Don't make me repeat myself. I do not care how you do it but stall for time. I swear that if he sees me like that, I will kill you then kill myself."

Looking at her bloodshot eyes, Chloe wisely took a step back and fled from the room.

*Giggle*

"Oh, you, don't you dare laugh at me! Okay?!"

The giggle transformed into a full-blown laugh, but Camelia couldn't care about this as she rushed to jump in her bath.

---

"So you are saying that Camelia is currently praying and isn't ready to receive me?"

"Haha~! Yeah."

Sol asked with an expression full of suspicion and Chloe could only awkwardly laugh. She didn't like to lie, so she used an excuse that was technically the truth.

After all, even though she wasn't praying, she was indeed doing a ritual.

"I have never seen Camelia praying."

Chloe immediately froze.

This wasn't a joke. In all his life, he had never seen Camelia pray. Even when mass was held, the ones presiding over it were always one of her subordinates.

"Haha~Haha~Perhaps she does it when she is alone?"

Sol admitted that it was possible, but with how awkward she was acting, it was clear that it was a lie.

'Well, it isn't like I can't guess.'

"Her current appearance is messy right?"

Chloe's laugh froze.

"I guess it was a bullseye. Well, it isn't like it's the first time."

Camelia wasn't particularly a vain woman, but she hated letting him see her sloppy appearance for as long as he could remember.

He thought that now that they had sex and he saw her in even more embarrassing situations she would relent but he had to admit that it was a little cute.

"Well, knowing her, we should have quite some time. What should we do?"

Chloe's awkward expression eased a little. She was happy that Sol didn't tease her about her previous embarrassing display.

"If you don't mind we can discuss a little. To be honest I don't really have many occasions to discuss with someone my age."

"Why would I mind? We are friends, right?"

Saying so, he presented his fist to her.

A beautiful smile bloomed on Chloe's face as she remembered their first discussion and fist-bumped with him.

"Of course."

"Then, let's go."

He had asked Setsuna and Ketia to go back to the tower and give the report to Lilith. As for him, since he could use the gate that linked the church to the tower, he was under no risk.

Even though she seemed to be the serious type, which she was, Chloe wasn't the kind that was too serious for their own good.

He was surprised to find that they surprisingly clicked very well. He also learned many things. About Angels in general and Slothtein in particular.

Slothtein was one of the smallest countries in the world and proportionally, their population was also the smallest in the world.

Despite this situation, they were the most developed race in the world technology-wise. In fact, from the description he was receiving, Slothtein didn't seem to lose to his previous world technology-wise and in fact, could even be superior.

After all, thanks to their supernatural powers, there were many experiments impossible or deemed too dangerous for humans in his world that were totally harmless for the angels.

"Then, if angels are so developed, why is the rest of the world so backward?"

Chloe frowned a little, "This is something I cannot really explain without sounding arrogant, but us angels judged that if the world had access to too much technology the world as we know it would soon be destroyed."

Sol winced a little, it wasn't as if he couldn't understand her.

The greatest difference between magic and technology was usability.

Magic was something that only a few elites could obtain. What's more, even between those few elites, only an even fewer could really grow to incredible levels. Technology meanwhile was something that anyone could use.

If he had to give an analogy, it would be like comparing martial artists before and after the creation of hot weapons such as guns.

A martial artist would need years of training but could die just because of a bullet coming from a gun held by a child.

"So you guys are controlling the level of technology?"

"No, not really. We do not fancy ourselves the guardians of the world. If anyone else made new discoveries, we wouldn't try to destroy them. It's just that, if the world must sink in chaos because of technology, we refuse to be the cause for it."

"But you guys do sell your technology sometimes, right? Like those holographic screens or way of communication."

"Indeed we do. But technology geared towards amusement and one geared towards armaments are different."

Sol pleaded to differ. Even though those holographic screens were used for entertainment, Sol could find few ways they could be useful in war.

After all, even computers and cell phones were originally mainly used in war before being streamlined for public use.

Still, he could understand that by nature, angels weren't a race that saw fighting as something they should care about.

The problem was that using general rules to judge an entire race was something extremely stupid.

Even though 'most' angels weren't interested in war, what if one angel decided to use their technology to conquer the world or something of the like?

After all, if holographic screens were just some outdated technology for the angels, he didn't even dare to imagine what was considered as mainstream.

Their discussion continued until they reached the garden.

It wasn't as breathtaking as the hanging garden of the tower, but it was still extremely beautiful and well-taken care of.

What's more, seeing the different nuns walk around gave a sacred atmosphere to the situation.

Once they saw him, the nuns began to blush and bow, but Sol simply waved at them.

He had always come here for as long as he could remember, and as such, even though he wasn't particularly close to any nuns, he knew their faces and they all knew him.

Looking at the numerous young and pretty nuns blushing while looking at him, Sol had to admit that he was a little tempted to lay down with some of them.

The nuns in this world weren't restricted by some chastity vow. They could marry and even have children as they wished. The only ones under any kind of restrictions were the holy and supreme daughters.

If he had to be honest, having sex with a bunch of nuns was one of his little wishes. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was that he didn't want to abuse his power.

In the tower, all the maids who rotated to bath him did it with the notion in mind that he could have sex with them. As such by accepting to bathe him, they showed their willingness to do so.

Here though, even if some nuns were not willing, they wouldn't dare to show their objections in fear of angering him.

'Seems like not finishing with Setsuna really riled me up...'

Not only his pride, but his lust was also growing continuously. This caused him some apprehension.

After all, there was a thin line between pride and stupid arrogance. Like there was a line between being lustful and being a rapist.

Finally reaching a little clearing with a few chairs around a white table, Sol and Chloe took place before continuing their discussion.

"So, why is your race so against war and fighting? Is it as said, because you guys are too lazy?"

Sol joked a little about that, but it was truly a question that intrigued him.

In all the known history, the number of times Slothtein went to war was incredibly small. Aside from some small skirmish against the demon of Envylia and the chimera of Gluttony Foss, they generally only went to war when provoked.

Chloe chuckled a little.

"It isn't entirely wrong. Sol, why do you think people go to war?"

Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "Religion, resources, territory. Those are the main reasons for war. Of course, sometimes you have people who go for emotional reasons such as hatred but they are generally very small."

Sol nodded and at the same time got the answer to his question.

"Slothtein is a flying island or rather a group of flying islands. The whole sky is basically your territory."

"Indeed. As for food, since we are partially energy beings, we do not need food to sustain ourselves. Resources-wise, we can already create anything we need ourselves or go to unexplored zones to obtain it. Finally, for religion, the last war between the fourteen divine daughters was one thousand years ago."

Chloe narrowed her eyes as she mentioned this part.

Even though the sisters were friendly to each other now, this wasn't always the case.

In the past, they were great enemies, at least, that was what was mentioned in books.

Some people called it the warring Era, while others called it the Era of darkness. The races weren't divided in Kingdoms then but rather in tribes.

But later, in their grand kindness, still from history books, the goddesses named some people to become their shepherds. Those people were the first blessed. The one who ushered the creation of the seven kingdom system.

At least, that was the official version. The truth was much less grand.

Chloe sighed, in the past, she had always wondered why her mother held no reverence toward the goddess of diligence even though she was serving her.

But after meeting Camelia and seeing the same lack of reverence, she understood that it wasn't her mother who was the odd one.

There was something she was missing. Information only someone at the level of Supreme daughter or King should be privy to.

"Anyway, we have everything we need, and we have no particular hatred with any race aside from some bad blood against the demons. But even that is old history."

Sol could only envy them. Too powerful to be attacked and too powerful to need to need to attack anyone.

But at the same time, he could only respect them.

As they said, war wasn't only fought for rational reasons. Sometimes, the cause could just be the ambition of some despotic bastard.

A great example was his own ancestor, Jupiter. Though, without him, Lustburg wouldn't be what it is now.

'Well, the greatest contributor was Medea though.'

After talking about war, Chloe and Sol continued to discuss. Sometimes it was politics, sometimes history, or sometimes nothing serious.

It was an enjoyable conversation, something very rare if he had to be honest.

Of course, their opinions weren't always in sync. Sometimes they even clashed. But this was what made this discussion so interesting.

It was when they were about to discuss the differences between contracts that, a young nun came close to Chloe and murmured in her ears before going away.

Sighing in regret, Chloe stretched her hand toward him, "As enjoyable as it was, it seems like we must cut it short. Aunt Camelia asked to call for you."

Clasping her hand while standing up, Sol gave her his usual charming smile, "It was also a pleasure for me. Don't hesitate to visit the tower if you are free. You won't be able to enter the upper part, but the middle and lower part still have interesting facilities."

"I will take you on that."

On those words, Sol left Chloe with a last wave of his hand. Once he left the garden, his smile slipped off of his face.

The day was far from finished. He needed to get as much information as possible before meeting the Gorfard.

Something was telling him that his meeting with them would be the start of a series of problems.

Since he knew the church like the back of his hand, it didn't take long for him to reach Camelia's quarters.

He was about to knock when,

"There's no need to knock. You can just enter."

He shrugged and opened the door, only to hold in his breath in shock.

Camelia was kneeling in dogeza in front of him.

Her attire consisted mostly of see-through clothes, reminiscing of what women dancers wore in an Arabian harem. What's more, her position made her butt stand out more, giving an incredible lewd feeling.

Sol gulped a little at the sight in front of him.

Raising her head, her face covered by a white veil, she chuckled and said

"Welcome back, master."

Her voice sounded so sexy, Sol immediately threw away all worries from his mind and he slowly closed the door behind him.

'Perhaps the serious discussion can wait for another hour or two.'