SON OF THE HERO KING

“What did you think?”

A few of the cloaked witches were walking with her. On their way, the witches not part of the councils would part way while giving nods of appreciation. After all, the council was the one who keep order in Salem.

“He is steady.”

“He has a great aura around him.”

“Can’t judge much, but he seems smart and composed despite his age. I was honestly expecting more arrogance from a dragon who is also a prince.”

Befana nodded, a smile forming on her face, even though it was invisible through her cloak,

“I guess with my earlier stunt, I will be cemented as the bad guy. But it doesn’t matter. I am glad I tried this test and his answer was appropriate without being excessive. Observe him for a few more days before we make our decisions.”

The time in Salem was currently slowly being synchronized with that of the mortal realm but they were still around three times faster.

“Is it truly necessary to vet him? We might anger him and make the deal stop. Furthermore, he has permission from Mother.”

“Mother doesn’t care about politics nor does she meddle in our affairs. This was the case one thousand years ago and every year after. Why would it change now?”

Befana scoffed, she had always been dissatisfied with the way Ambrosia took care of the witches, and as a student of Persephone, Befana was a second-generation witch and one of the witches who have participated in the council the most.

She was not angry truly. Ambrosia was simply not this kind of caretaker. She was simply disappointed and this was why needed to make sure to not make the mistakes of the past.

“My dream was always to attain the level where we could get rid of the curse. So I, more than anyone else, am happy that we managed to get this answer. But…Nothing is ever free in this world.”

“The prince currently does not look like he will become a second Jupiter.”

“I doubt he will. Jupiter was a man who let power go to his head and acted stupidly. Sol Luxuria already has more power than we can imagine so I am nearly sure that he will not cause a problem.

“So…”

“Nearly sure is enough to let the destiny of our race in the hands of one man. No matter what their races, the more active Blessed are, the faster they die as they use all the Fate and Luck in store for them. The prince could die tomorrow for all we know. Then, what about his kids? Would they also have the ability to create those rings?”

She shook her head, “I know I am being headstrong, but leaving the capacity to thrive for our to simply one person is too dangerous. During the negotiation, we need to know how they are produced.”

Befana was a witch of Life or rather a witch of plants like her teacher, Persephone. This was exactly why she knew more than anyone else about the curse weighing down on them.

“But we wouldn’t have a solution in the first place without him, right? Despite all our research we never managed to make a headway.”

“True.”

Befana nodded and looked behind her, “He is our benefactor and I wish I didn’t have to play the bad one in this situation. But we must. I will accept any punishment later on.”

—--

While Befana was talking and explaining her plan to her companion, Sol was walking slowly and listening to her. Beside him was Ambrosia who could only give a bitter smile.

“It seems like years of neglect made it so they don’t trust your words much anymore.”

There was nothing Ambrosia could say to this. She simply lowered her hat, too ashamed to even look at the directions of her daughters.

“All I wanted was their own good.”

“I have no doubt about this. But they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

The intention of Ambrosia didn’t matter much as what mattered was how she acted and how those actions were interpreted by her children.

Clearly — the way she acted made them lose hope quite a bit.

“Sigh~ So, what will you do?”

“Me? Honestly nothing. We will soon start fighting against Wratharis. Honestly, I believe that sooner or later the wolf will lose his restraints. All they are waiting for is the snow to fall heavily.”

“Do you need the witches?”

“No.”

He shrugged, “Wratharis is not worthy of the witches intervening directly. In fact, I believe keeping the witches away until we start fighting against the Angels is the wise thing to do. The Angels and the Chimera are honestly the only unknown factors in my future conquest.”

Sol did not see the danger of Wrartharis. He was just slightly exaggerating his preparation to make sure no unknown factor would fuck this up.

After all, this was what happened when they faced the Wings of Freedom for the first time. Many unexpected things ended up destroying a carefully crafted plan.

“As for this woman? I kinda like her. After all, she is not wrong.”

He could see that Befana was not acting out of spite or simple arrogance. She was truly worried for her country and worried about how the future negotiation might give him too much power over them.

In the end, from a perspective of a country —- There was never anything good about being dependent on another power.

“So, I will be kind during the negotiation. Don’t worry.”

Ambrosia chuckled awkwardly.

She had the feeling he would do the opposite of what he was saying.

(AN: War is starting in 5-10 chapters maximum. The Elven arc will happen after and will be part of the world conquest volume..)

[1]: The story of Befana is honestly beautiful and sometimes sad. Basically, La Befana is something of Santa Claus but for Italian. There are many versions and giving everything would be a chapter itself so kinda summarize,

In one case, takes a slightly darker tone as La Befana was an ordinary woman with a child. However, her child died, and her resulting grief maddened her. Upon hearing news of Jesus being born, she set out to see him, delusional that he was her son. She eventually met Jesus and presented him with gifts to make him happy. The infant Jesus was delighted, and he gave La Befana a gift in return; she would be the mother of every child in Italy.

In another one, she doesn’t have a son but decides to find Jesus on her own by following a bright light, also known as the big star in the sky which she believes points the way. She brings along a bag filled with baked goods and gifts for Jesus, and a broom to help the new mother clean. Unfortunately despite her best efforts she never finds him. Befana is still searching after all these centuries for the newborn messiah. On the eve of the Epiphany, Befana comes to every house where there is a child and leaves a gift. Although she has been unsuccessful in her search, she still leaves gifts for children everywhere because the Christ Child can be found in all children