Chapter 562: Royal Debt

Thankfully, Freya was there and was able to pry Cain’s sausage fingers from Julius without smushing Julius in the process.

“Jeez, what’s up with the dramatics?” Julius gasped out.

Cain scoffed. “Dramatics? Someone tells us that the Emperor of the Luminous Empire has my disciple in his private viewing room, and you expect me to be calm?”

Julius smoothed out his clothes. “Well, as you can see, I am perfectly fine.”

“They didn’t mess with your mind?”

Julius held back a sigh. “No.”

“They didn’t stamp a binding spell or carve some kind of servitude ritual onto your soul?”

“No.”

What is up with these questions, and why is Cain asking them?

“What have they done to you then?”

“Nothing?” Julius said with confusion.

“Oh…. You sure about that?”

“Yeah… I think so,” Julius said the first part confidently, but the latter part with some hesitation. Did they do something to him? Would he even know if they did?

“He’s fine. They didn’t activate any of the protections I placed on him, sweetie,” Freya said to them. However, Julius noticed that her gaze hadn’t strayed from the Royal Family this entire time. And concerningly, it wasn’t even directed at the Emperor, but instead focused on Cassian.

“What do you want, Cassian?” Freya asked, her tone ice cold. Her usual warmth was gone.

The man targeted under her frosty glare perked up and spread his arms widely. He didn’t seem to mind the less-than-warm greeting.

“Freya! How nice to see you again! How have you been? I think the last time we saw each other was a few years ago.”

“Yes, and I recall that you were testing out a weapon that obliterated a good portion of the Strasta Mountains,” she noted flatly.

“It wasn’t a weapon,” he proclaimed with a bright smile.

“…”

Freya clearly didn’t find this very amusing.

“Okay, it wasn’t designed to be a weapon,” Cassian admitted sheepishly.

“What was it supposed to be then?” Julius couldn’t help but ask.

Cassian looked at him proudly. “It was supposed to be a prototype heating generator that people could install into their homes during the winter months.”

Julius had even more questions upon hearing that explanation.

“Okay, but how did a heater obliterate half of a mountain range?” He asked.

“Because the idiot decided to use the core of a Tier 6 fire affinity beast as one of its main sources of power,” Freya answered, pinching her nose.

“You did what!?” Reinera shouted with a mix of exasperation and shock.

Julius looked at Cassian accusingly. He wasn’t exactly the smartest or wisest person on his best day, but even he knew that sounded like a ridiculous idea.

“What kind of heater were you trying to make? A heater that would cook the entire capital?”

“I wanted something that lasted! Something that people wouldn’t have to worry about replacing in a decade. Something that they could leave to their children and to their children’s children,” Cassian said with a pout.

“I still don’t get why it required using something like a Tier 6 core to power it. You also realize that practically no families would have been able to afford such a priceless artifact, right?” Julius pointed out.

“I know that. I planned to modify it to work with a Tier 3 or Tier 4 core, but I didn’t have any suitable cores on hand. The most suitable core I had was the Tier 6 core from the Scorching Drake I killed a couple months prior,” Cassian said, as if he was offended that Julius would even accuse him of not thinking of that.

“So why didn’t you just go out and buy a core that was suitable for the prototype?” Julius asked with confusion.

“…”

“You didn’t think about doing that…” Julius noted with disappointment.

“O-Of course I did.”

He really didn’t. Julius didn’t know if he was disappointed or worried that the brother of the Emperor was like this.

“At least, I tested the item somewhere safe.” It was as if the man were trying to salvage his reputation.

“You buried an entire village.” Freya’s voice cut through like a razor-sharp sword. Her accusatory tone was clear to everyone.

“How was I supposed to know it was there? Some potent magic hid them from my senses.”

“You would have found it if you had bothered to look harder,” Freya said with emphasis.

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Cassian actually looked ashamed for a moment.

“You’re right. I should have looked harder. Also, it’s obvious in hindsight why hiding their presence is necessary for their survival. Still, it was in the middle of the Strastra Mountains; I didn’t think anyone would be insane enough to try to build an entire village there. Who would want to try to survive in that inhospitable death pit? It’s literally labeled as an extremely dangerous territory in the Northern Region for a good reason.”

She didn’t have an immediate response to that and stared at Cassian, her cold glare letting up ever so slightly.