Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2419 Recruit

Another 10 Years Later—Year 775 After the Coronation

Mid Sector 98—

Only two decades ago, this place had been widely known throughout the surrounding regions as the Talisman Galaxy, the home of the production and development of talismans and spells of every conceivable kind, a notorious stronghold where greed and conspiracies flourished everywhere, and a convenient sanctuary for Syndicate followers arriving from virtually anywhere and at any time.

But during those two decades, all of that had changed considerably, and what existed here today was no longer the same place it had once been.

BOOOOOOWOO~

Thousands of epic horns sounded simultaneously and unleashed a magnificent symphony filled with overwhelming grandeur and power, their combined voices spreading across the surroundings as though they were announcing to heaven and earth themselves that they should prepare for the important event that was finally about to unfold.

Everyone who had previously been sitting in a seat immediately rose to their feet, everyone riding within an open carriage stood upright to gain a better view, and everyone who had been speaking with someone nearby closed their mouths and stopped their conversations, turning their attention toward a single direction with faint smiles appearing across their faces.

”Thank you for your long and patient wait, ladies and gentlemen.” Among everyone gathered for the occasion, Theo, the Supreme Shadow Sword and one of Lord Robinʼs sons, calmly stepped forward until he reached the enormous entrance of the hall, then addressed those present in a composed voice. ”Now, we will finally begin the true ceremony with the presence of—the Emperor Slayer, the Nine Paths Behemoth, Lady Renara!”

Creeeak

The gigantic gate standing behind Theo slowly opened with a heavy sound, and immediately afterward, a tremendous flood of brilliant light poured outward from beyond it, illuminating the entrance completely. Then, from amidst that overwhelming light, Renara steadily stepped forward and revealed herself before everyone present.

For this particular day, Renara had abandoned the armor she normally wore and instead appeared in a breathtaking white dress that complemented the color of her fur and her nine tails perfectly. Even the sharp and intimidating aura that usually surrounded her had calmed considerably, losing much of its aggressive edge and becoming noticeably more composed, balanced, and weighty, while her already remarkable beauty seemed to have somehow doubled!

Clap Clap

”Congratulations on successfully refining the Nine Paths Galaxy, Lady Renara.”

”What a wonderful day, absolutely wonderful!”

”Hoho, what a truly magnificent sight.”

”....” Renara paid no attention to the welcoming remarks and congratulations coming from around her, continuing forward without stopping until she arrived directly before her glowing throne. She sat down upon it with unmistakable majesty, settled herself into a regal posture befitting the occasion... and then silently began looking around the enormous hall before her.

The private throne hall that had once belonged to Zargul had been completely transformed from what it had previously been, with everything inside altered until the entire place became something that properly suited Renaraʼs appearance, atmosphere, and race, and more importantly than any of those considerations, something sufficiently magnificent to reflect the grandeur of the entity she now served.

Outside the throne hall, the native inhabitants of the galaxy, together with all the newcomers belonging to the Kumaji race, were already immersed in wild celebrations and enormous festivals filled with excitement, festivities that werenʼt merely limited to this particular day but were intended to continue for an entire month...

As for the enormous hall directly before Renara, there was currently a very large gathering inside, numbering somewhere around two thousand people in total, perhaps slightly more or slightly less than that.

Yet the moment Renara finally reached her throne and took her seat, every one of those people comfortably returned to their own seats and casually resumed speaking with whoever happened to be beside them as though the grand entrance had already concluded. Some of them occasionally turned their heads and looked toward Renara from afar... but beyond those occasional glances, nothing particularly crazy or exaggerated was happening inside the hall.

”...Didnʼt you prepare your speech?” Theo finally began strolling across the hall after everything had settled down, continuing until he arrived directly beside Renaraʼs throne before speaking to her. ”I believe I reminded you about it well in advance.”

”None of these people deserve a speech from me, no matter how short or insignificant that speech might be. I could kill every last one of them whenever I wished, and yet just look at them and the arrogant way theyʼre behaving even while sitting here in front of me...” Renara furrowed her brows slightly as she continued observing the people gathered throughout the hall. ”Iʼll never understand this world of politics.”

”They donʼt deserve it?” Theo revealed a faint smile at Renaraʼs assessment of the guests before casually explaining, ”Everyone gathered here is an envoy representing Behemoths from all across the universe. There are several first-rank sons representing every neutral Behemoth who hasnʼt become our enemy yet, representatives sent by several enormous commercial and underground entities, and representatives belonging to several major research alliances and other large organizations that only emerged into the light after Zargulʼs death.”

Then, after a brief pause in which he glanced at the gathering around them, Theo continued in the same calm tone, ”Your standards have become so high that theyʼre starting to become a little concerning.”

”They arenʼt high standards so much as simple self-awareness and knowing exactly where I stand.” Renara replied in a low voice without changing her expression. ”Not a single one of these people actually came here for me... Just look carefully at their eyes.”

”....” Theo fell silent after hearing her words and began observing the people gathered inside the hall exactly as Renara had asked him to.

The eyes of those present were indeed noticeably restless despite how composed everyone attempted to appear. Beneath the convenient cover provided by their calm expressions, relaxed conversations, and casual laughter, their eyes were constantly darting left and right in search of a particular person, their ears subtly moved as though trying to catch a particular word from somewhere among the surrounding conversations, and their spiritual senses continuously spread through the area in search of something they clearly hadnʼt found yet...

”Heh.” Theo chuckled softly after confirming what Renara meant. ”Everyone here already knows that this celebration isnʼt a genuine coronation in the traditional sense. You werenʼt crowned as an independent Behemoth like what used to happen in the past, but rather became a Behemoth subordinate to another entity, so naturally, none of these people actually came all this way merely to congratulate you personally. They came to congratulate the entity standing behind you and, more importantly, to look beyond what theyʼre currently seeing.”

”...Right now, theyʼre evaluating your strength from up close, evaluating the grandeur and extravagance of this palace after all the renovations, evaluating exactly how many representatives of other Behemoths have chosen to attend this ceremony, and carefully evaluating the degree of seriousness visible in the movements, expressions, and behavior of their own allies and enemies among the people gathered here.” Then Theo smiled slightly as he explained what would follow. ”Afterward, once the ceremony is over and everyone begins leaving, theyʼll start contacting us, the Shadow Swords, in secret.”

”Wasnʼt Hedrickʼs coronation ceremony already enough for all of that?” Renara cast Theo a sideways glance, apparently seeing little reason why another nearly identical event should be necessary.

Hedrick had finished refining his galaxy two years before Renara completed hers and had already held a ceremony similar to this one, although unlike Renara, he had delivered an enthusiastic speech before those attending at the time, openly declaring himself the True Destruction Behemoth.

”....” Theo slowly shook his head after considering Renaraʼs question. ”Even twenty separate ceremonies like this one might still not be enough.”

”Arenʼt you exaggerating things a little?” Renara asked with visible surprise at the scale of his statement, a faint smile appearing on her face as she looked toward him.

”Not at all. You only need to ask yourself a very simple question: What exactly might we possibly gain from establishing contact with the representatives of all those Behemoths and all those different powers gathered here?” Theo deliberately posed the question to her instead of immediately giving her the answer himself.

”...Subjugate them without having to fight a war?” Renara furrowed her brows slightly as she considered the question and gave the most obvious answer that came to mind.

”Thatʼs the greatest objective behind all of this.” Theo nodded in confirmation. ”We donʼt need recognition or acknowledgment from any of them, and we certainly donʼt need to establish trade agreements with them since we already possess our dedicated network. Nor do we need them to speak favorably about us before the public or improve our image, for example, because we already have a terrible reputation throughout the universe thanks to our continuous expansion and because rumors about our connection to the Crimson Plague continue spreading farther and becoming increasingly widespread.”

Then Theo continued explaining, ”The only thing important enough to actually motivate us to organize events like this is the possibility that we might eventually manage to subjugate one or two of them, or letʼs make the terminology sound a little nicer and simply say that weʼre trying to draw them over to our side.” Afterward, his eyes narrowed slightly as his expression became more serious. ”But accomplishing that has already proven to be extremely difficult.”

”Naturally.” Renara nodded without showing any surprise at that conclusion. ”Behemoths wonʼt willingly submit to anyone without an extremely compelling reason powerful enough to convince them to do so.”

”Thatʼs one reason.” Theo nodded in agreement with her assessment. ”But thereʼs another reason as well...” His eyes narrowed even further before he finally revealed it. ”...The other Great Powers have started recruiting Behemoths too.”