The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-505

Chapter 505: Negotiation

Out of her instinct as a citizan of Holletta, Becky was still very nervous in the face of the powerful people, whom she had heard about since she was just a child. However, Hao Ren did not feel that way. He had been to the Helcrown; every single one of Y’zaks’officers was more imposing than all of the ones in front of him at the moment. The protectors of Helcrown could establish law and order with just their faces. Hao Ren’s nerves had since been hardened.

So he just nodded to His Majesty, Mhoren as he said, “Nice to meet you, Your Majesty.”

Mhoren did not feel offended by their bluntness. Like ordinary elderly folk, he smiled and said, “Please have a seat, save the formality. This is a very special meeting. I hope everyone can be open and honest.”

They then sat down at the long table. Vivian skilfully carried out a small talk with the officers, and Ophra spoke to the king about a few things: she could be reporting some serious business to the king, but Hao Ren had no clue what it was about. Shortly after, the pope and the king looked up and began to ask about the First Born. Just when they were about to open their mouths, Lily who was sitting next to Hao Ren could not help but show a grimace face. “Where’s the meal… When will we start eating?”

Mhoren His Majesty was choked. The old pope, who was straight-faced all this while, was staring at Lily in astonishment. Obviously, they had not expected this. They treated this meeting seriously as some kind of third encounter. From the outset, the state affair was the only things in their mind, the banquet should be rightly put till the end of the meeting. Conversely, Lily had come solely for the dinner…

If it was not that honest people and politicians were always at odd, it must be that the minds of politicians could not keep up with Lily’s appetite.

“Did I say something wrong?” Lily wasn’t stupid. She had noticed the odd atmosphere as she scratched her head and looked around. “I can wait if the meal is not ready yet. Meanwhile, can I have snack or something? Because I didn’t have enough at noon.”

As Lily’s voice trailed off, Becky and the Nangong Wuyue also followed suit and nodded. The two were also hungry. They had had only a couple of cups of tea in the afternoon when they heard that they could dine with the king and the Pope. Grub was their only purpose here.

Vivian and Hao Ren could only hide their faces in their hands for having such an embarrassing mates.

Ophra hemmed and glanced up at Mhoren. “That’s why I said don’t use the practice of the court.”

Mhoren looked queer as he told the valets to prepare the meal. Hao Ren sensed that things would be ruined if current atmosphere continued. So he quickly went straight to business before the old pope raised his platinum sceptre and whacked people. “I believe Ophra must have told you about our situation. But let me stress it again: we have come from another world, which is what you call ‘foreigners’. My task is to deal with all sorts of nasty things, such as the First Born on the planet. Our rule is to not interfere with the development of the civilization, I have no interest in your politics, military, religion, economy or any other things. My only purpose is to solve the problem of the First Born as it’s a threat to the planet.”

Mhoren and the old pope nodded slightly and said that they had learned about it before hand. It was on this premise that this secret meeting was arranged.

“Now tell me about the two sacred caves. What’s the situation of the two First Borns now?”

“According to intelligence and ancient manuscripts brought back by Marshal Ophra, we did find strong evidence of the existence of the First Born,” said Cardinal Orben with a hoarse voice. The scary rune tattoo on his face moved as he spoke. “We had found the outer door and managed to open the first barrier. We had also found a large number of strange tentacles and secret chambers with ancient texts deep in the ground. We also discovered relics of the First Pope. All evidences conclusively point to the existence of the First Born. But we haven’t yet opened the last door, so no one has seen the First Born in person. The biggest progress now is the discovery of only a few tentacles and sarcomas.

Lily had been slobbering eyeballing the valets serving the grub on the table. She asked curiously as she heard what Cardinal Orben had said, “Why not open the last door? Isn’t the First Born still sleeping?”

“We were worried that we would wake them up,” the old pope said. His voice was soft but clear. “I had personally gone and taken a look at those tentacles. It really possesses the primitive energy that created the world in the beginning, beyond the comprehension of mortal. We can’t take any risks. Once another First Born wakes up, no one can summon a pillar of fire from the cloud to destroy that creature.”

Ophra looked at Hao Ren. “So we’ve been waiting for you.”

“Very well to be cautious,” Hao Ren exhaled. “The sounder the thing sleeps, the better. By the way, how is the safety device?”

“After we learned that the suppressor of the First Born was in Divine Sarcophagus, we had moved it deeper underground, so that they were closer to the First Born,” said Prince Hoffman. “but we don’t know their working condition. No one knows how to inspect that device, it’s a great device created by the goddess, no one understands how it works. We only know that the First Born is still asleep now… just asleep for the moment.”

Mhoren sighed. “We have all along misunderstood the functions of the sacred caves and the Divine Sarcophagus. Only a few people know the existence of these things. Had we disclosed these information early or the church scholars studied them, perhaps we would have long discovered the existence of the First Born.”

The old pope shook his head and said, “But it could also mean waking the First Born prematurely. We couldn’t afford that to happen. Cautiousness might have delayed our understanding of the sacred relics, but at least that had avoided an early destruction.”

“The key now is how to solve this problem. Even if the suppressor works well, the situation can only last for less than a year,” said Ophra, turning to look at Hao Ren. “At present, it seems that you are the only one capable of eliminating the First Born. But honestly, after examining your ‘measure’ in the Beinz area… I think it’s better to think of a better solution if possible.”

Prince Hoffman shrugged wackily. “Although it brought us a crystal jungle, it was a bit too overwhelming. And to be honest, the places where the other two First Borns lie aren’t exactly suitable for the Beinz’s method to be employed.”

Hao Ren waved his hand and said: “Rest assured, the orbital bombardment is only the last resort. I’m not willing to use it to risk collateral damage. Now we have several months to consider a more gentle way to deal with the First Borns. In the meantime, I would like to take a look at the site first—see how the suppressor is doing and how’s the situation of the two First Borns. I hope you can help arrange it.”

Cardinal Orben lowered his head slightly. Some of the weird runes on his forehead emanating a soft glow as he said cautiously, “Of course. But I hope the entire process could be conducted under the supervision of the church. After all, it is our Sacred Land. Inside the cave is not only the First Born, but also the church’s earliest heritage.”

Hao Ren gladly agreed. Then something which he had almost forgotten suddenly crossed his mind. He took out a thick black book from his dimensional pocket. “There’s another thing. It’s sad that the clerics of Disciples of Glory need to go through a sacred ritual known as Branding Ritual to gain the blessing power of the goddess and to grasp the power of divine skills and the ability to dialogue with the goddess. We are curious about this ritual.”

“That’s our scripture?” A weird expression flashed in Orben’s eyes. “It’s an internal secret book for high-ranking clergy… where did you get it from?”

“The four ascetics gave it to me,” explained Hao Ren. “They hope that the teachings of the goddess can be spread, and I do know some of the things related to the Disciples of Glory. I guess the ritual isn’t something wicked, is it?”

Originally, in order to learn more about the goddess of creation, Hao Ren had asked for a canonised scripture from Big Beardy. It not only recorded the dogmas of the Disciples of Glory and the legend of the goddess, but also many sacred rituals that only the clergy knew, include the Branding Ritual which each official priest must undergo. It was said that after the ceremony, ordinary people would be able to use the divine skills from the goddess and get in touch with the voice of the goddess.

Hao Ren used to think that this was just superstitious, but he soon discovered that the four ascetics could really establish connection with the voice of the higher being through meditation. So he was immediately interested in the Branding Ritual.

Did the Disciples of Glory really have the means to establish contact with the goddess of creation? If this was the case… could they find the whereabouts of the goddess of creation?

This might be a breakthrough in revealing the veil of the goddess and the First Born. Hao Ren was very much looking forward to this.

After Cardinal Orben and the Pope heard the request, they were silent.