Chapter 161 Meeting

After getting inside, the old man was greeted by the sight of piles of Ker Gems placed neatly all around the floor.
Instead of the white swirling mists which were in Daneel's Natural Energized Training Chamber, the insides of this chamber were filled with red steam that was semi-transparent.
Although there were at least 100 Ker Gems in front of him, the old man sighed before suddenly convulsing and falling to the ground.
As he did so, he clutched at a Ker Gem beside him and absorbed it in mere minutes, after which his breathing returned to normal.
Clutching at his torso and wincing, he frowned at the dust left in his hand before sitting down and taking another gem in his hands to begin meditating.
After a few hours, only dust was left in the chamber. Even the mists had turned feeble and seemed to be on the verge of disappearing entirely.
Sighing deeply, he took out a recording trinket from his inner pocket and said, "Concentration has gone down further. A way to revitalize the soil must be found soon. Note to self: increase the number of spies observing the fields in Lanthanor Kingdom."
After recording the note, the old man put it back inside after carefully locking the chamber and the trapdoor using the secret spell.
Walking towards the throne room, he prayed that the decision made by the King of Lanthanor hadn't been because he simply didn't know of the negative effects.
Clutching his torso again, he cursed the one who had given him this wound which had plagued him for the centuries he spent looking for a place like the Black Raven Kingdom to settle down.
Now that he had settled down, he would do anything to ensure that everything he had built would not be demolished, no matter the number of deaths it might require.
...
After the meeting was done, Eldra was walking towards her room while reflecting on everything that had happened so far.
As she did so, she realized that she had felt something the moment that man had stumbled and fell near her.
Due to the disgust from the ghastly smell that had emanated from him, she hadn't been able to pay it enough attention to realize that it hadn't just been a brush like she had thought.
Checking her pockets, she took out a piece of normal parchment which was folded.
Opening it, her eyes widened seeing the words written inside.
"The meeting will take place in the same location 2 days after the time told by the messenger. If you, like us, wish for a change in leadership, come alone."
Immediately, Eldra folded the parchment again and put it in her pocket before shouting, "Guards! Apprehend that man who just came to deliver the information! Contact the guard who went with him!"
In the Palace of Eldinor, guards were positioned at all times in all the passageways in case an emergency arose. Hearing her shout, a guard immediately used his trinket to contact the guard captain who had the ability to contact any guard at any time.
Hurriedly walking towards this guard, Eldra waited for news while impatiently tapping her foot on the ground.
A few moments later, an ashen expression came on the guard's face before he said, "That man... disappeared in a crowd. The guard tried to find him, but he couldn't. Would you like to send a request to put up a Wanted poster?"
Hearing the answer, Eldra first cursed at herself in frustration for not noticing sooner. Afterward, she pondered for a bit before replying, "No. It is probably just someone who came with a disguise to earn a quick buck using the information. We didn't pay him up front, so he must have run away. It isn't worth the effort."
Indeed, this wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the Palace. Thus, the guard simply nodded before going back to his duty.
Resuming the walk towards her room, Eldra couldn't help but take out the parchment to read the words again.
A change in leadership. What would that be like?
While her thoughts veered into such dangerous paths, she walked with her head down until reaching a fork in her path and looking up to realize where she was.
If she walked forward, she would reach the Throne Room where she could speak to her Mother.
If she walked to the right, she could reach her room and forget that this episode had happened.
Looking towards both directions with an expression of agony on her face, Eldra tried to decide which path to take.
She knew that the path she took would definitely decide her future, thus she took her time to think long and hard before finally making a decision.
...
Meanwhile, in the Throne Room of the Lanthanor Kingdom.
Although it was a fact that many of the meetings recently had been taking place inside the King's chambers, Daneel had gotten sick of spending all his time seeing the same drab walls. Thus, he had decided to shift location to the throne room which was presently empty for most of the time because of the fact that he did not find many occasions to hold Royal Courts.
"My Lord, we have received a message from Olfax. The message has been successfully delivered."
This time, only Kellor was in the room with him. Luther and Robert were busy handling the tasks he had given them, and he hadn't called Faxul as he had realized that he hadn't been giving his friend enough time to train due to all the tasks he had been giving him.
Although he did have an increased speed of training due to the development technique he had given him, there was still a need for him to be free enough to train using it.
"Good. Kellor, you and I will be making a trip to the Kingdom of the Elves."
Hearing the King's confident tone, Kellor couldn't help but be startled momentarily.
The King was going to leave the safety of the Palace?
Besides the fact that this was very risky in itself, there was no guarantee that Eldra wouldn't pass the message to the Queen and set up an ambush to capture whoever wanted to bring a change in the ruling party of Eldinor.
"Y-your Majesty, it is simply not sa-"
"Kellor, do you remember that time in my room when you thought that I had used the clone technique? And later during the fight for the throne, when you realized that it had been me?"
Bewildered as to why Daneel was asking him about that time, Kellor nodded. Indeed, Kellor had been quite surprised when he had realized that Daneel had somehow used the clone technique to disguise himself as Varanel so that he could enter the throne room. Still, he had held his silence and hadn't asked how this had been possible, as the Clone spell could only be used by Warrior Level Mages. With no other option, he had assumed that it was related to the mysterious master behind Daneel.
"Well then, suffice it to say that my clone will be attending the meeting instead of myself. And I need you to guard my original body while the meeting is going on."
Kellor couldn't help but stop the desire to shake his head at this point. For someone who had managed to emulate a Warrior Spell, a simple Exalted Human-level spell wouldn't be much of a problem.
...
2 days later, two men could be seen rendezvousing with the man who had won the goodwill of many guards due to his selfless actions to clean the sewers of the Palace. Although there had been a requirement before, no one had come from the citizens to take the job. Thus, the soldiers had had to do the cleaning themselves in shifts.
Due to this goodwill, there wasn't any trouble to gain entry into the Capital after telling the guards that the two were his family.
In this way, the King of Lanthanor entered Elfaven unseen by the Queen who was currently waiting inside the Palace for the news which would push her above her competitors and ensure her victory in the polls which were just weeks away.