Two Brothers

*Around the time that Kei had appeared in the alley to confront Sylas.*

As Eric sat on his table in his mansion’s office looking troubled and lost in thought, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

“You look like you’re deep in thought.”

In the office of the Lestia family mansion, a middle aged man had entered to find a particularly troubled Eric sitting on his desk. The man looked no older than Eric himself.

“It’s been a while, brother.” The man greeted Eric.

“Are you sure you should be here, Arthur? Doesn’t the King of Babel have more pressing matters to attend to?”

“More pressing than a random individual who appeared out of nowhere and snapped 2 high god blessings in half?”

“?! How–”

The man in front of Eric was none other than his older brother, Arthur von Babel, who also happens to be the King of the kingdom they are currently in. The King of Babel is not decided by whoever is the firstborn, or through meritocracy. Instead, it is decided by whichever child receives the blessing of Astraea, the Goddess of Justice. When Arthur was crowned the new king, Eric was granted a dukedom to manage instead. This dukedom was later expanded when it merged with Rovinj 10 years before the present.

When Arthur mentioned the event where the green-haired lady snapped Eric’s and Lucia’s blessings, Eric widened his eyes in shock. There wasn’t any way that Arthur was supposed to know about it. Just as he was about to question Arthur about the source of the information, the latter held up his hand as if asking him to stay quiet and let him finish his explanation.

“As you know, whoever sits on the throne of Babel will gain the ability to receive revelations and prophecies from the goddess Astraea herself. This ability, whilst not always present, has saved this kingdom countless times.”

The special thing about the Kingdom of Babel was that its rulers were believed to have been selected by Astraea herself. Since the Kingdom’s founding, every ruler had possessed the blessings of Astraea. To date, it has been recorded that only the royal family of Babel have ever been blessed by the goddess after its founding.

“However, I have never received a message from the goddess as cryptic as this…”

“And the message was?”

“Anger not the celestials, or your kingdom’s lineage ends here…”

“But that doesn’t mean that the boy is as the goddess says!”

“Be that as it may, I still have a duty as a king to protect my people.”

The conversation between the two brothers had gotten heated. Eric, who was bound to his words to keep Kei’s secret as safe as he possibly can, and Arthur, who was bound to his duty to protect his people. Sensing the tension between them escalating, Arthur gave a deep sigh and sat down on the couch with one of his hands on his head.

“Before we talk about what or who is not here yet, let’s get everything out in the open. I’m not looking to villainize someone I have never met. There’s not much use in you hiding the facts anymore since I already know most of it. But to get a clearer picture, tell me everything.”

“...”

In truth, Eric was still hesitant about letting Arthur in on the events that had unfolded. However, he understood that he couldn’t hide the facts from his brother any longer. Taking a deep breath, Eric finally spoke up about the events that had unfolded.

*About 20 minutes later*

“A lady with green hair, you say?”

“It sounds absurd, yes. But that is the full, unfiltered truth.”

The first question out of Arthur’s mouth was precisely just that. The lady who had appeared and who she was. To him, something of that scale has only ever happened twice in the history of the kingdom. But it has been so long since the last occurrence that no one remembers it except for him.

“Listen here, Eric. You were right to have kept this a secret. If any word about this had gotten out, especially to the Empire, things would have been catastrophic.”

“But I’m honestly lost as to what to do now. If he is powerful enough to erase mine and Lucia’s high blessings with such ease, then surely there isn’t much I could do to convince him to stay, should he decide to leave. And the fact that the boy looks so young, just what has he been through?”

“Hmm… I can’t say anything for someone I’ve yet to meet. However, I do expect you to have him meet me for an audience, Eric.”

“...”

To Eric, the mere fact that agreeing to his brother’s demands would mean that he would be betraying his own promise to protect Kei from any political intervention. He couldn’t give a proper answer. How could he? After all, there was also the ominous threat that the green-haired lady had given when she showed up. As Eric struggled to come to a decision, Arthur sighed before speaking.

“Eric, I am not telling you to hand over the boy, nor am I telling you to have the boy meet me in a public audience. I am merely stating that I wish to meet the boy. That is all.”

What Arthur had meant when he said he wanted to meet Kei was not to have an official audience, but to meet in private so that he could judge for himself what kind of man Kei was. Only then would he be able to decide what decision he would make.

“You should have said so from the start, brother.” A relieved Eric sighed.

“Still, this power of his could only mean one of two things.”

“And that is?”

“The first, is that the nature of the boy’s blessing errs on the level of being anti-divine. This would mean that he is going to be a powerful asset to any country who manages to get their hands on him.”

“True, I can’t imagine any country who wouldn’t want to use his powers for their own military gain. What’s the second?”

“It’s that his blessing surpasses the realm of the High Gods. This is equally worrying.”

“Surpasses the high gods…”

“Yes, there is only one class that reigns above the realm of the High Gods. However, there hasn’t been a new sighting of those classes of blessings for over a millenia.”

Thinking of the words of his brother, Eric started to ponder. For the longest time, it is thought that the highest class of blessings were always the blessings of the High Gods. But the thought of something surpassing even that is utterly terrifying. After all, even a weaker High God blessing can still cause major damage. The fact that something even stronger exists would mean that the world can actually face destruction if such powers ran rampant. As he thought deeper, it looked as though Eric had reached a conclusion.

“?! You don’t mean–”