Chapter 245: Cordelia
"So, what did the tower say?"
After Ariel's question, James opened his arms and said with a twist of his lips, "I own the floor." he said. Stay connected via mvl
"I hope you didn't lose too much, I've heard the stories and legends too," Ariel said with a deep smile.
When James nodded and said that everything was fine, he said, "There is nothing left for us to do here, I have already banned you from floor duty, when Emma opens the gate, we can move to the next floor, Ariel."
With those words, Elanor and the others turned to James in surprise and then managed to get his attention.
"Don't worry Elanor, I know you're fine this time and I own the floor, normally I would have just walked through just like last time but now I can come back here whenever I want. I can let my servants and the Church of Night in here, which means you and your family will always be safe." James said suddenly, genuinely wanting to comfort this strange woman he had missed for so long.
As Elanor's eyes filled with tears, a white portal opened at the very edge of the room where the paintings had been, and James nodded and said, "Just in time Emma, we're almost to the 40th floor."
He turned and gave Elanor a gentle hug, shaking her husband's hand and patting his nephews on the head, bade them goodbye and left the room with Ariel through the portal.
He left behind Elanor and her family, filled with hope, and when he emerged from the portal, he was greeted by a smiling Ariel.
"What happened? What's wrong?" James suddenly asked and Ariel, hearing this question, replied directly, "There's nothing I can do, you're smiling really sincerely these days, you should see your face, you look quite funny, dummy."
With that, the two looked around to see what was going on around them.
They saw that they were next to a long line of caravans. Their task seemed to be to protect this caravan, but frankly, there was no telling what the tower would do, after all this stupid tower was sadistic enough to enjoy the screams of climbers.
"Watch out," James said quietly, and with that, the entrance to the 37th floor began.
The two of them watched the caravan and the caravan group carefully, trying to keep their eyes peeled for any sign of trouble.
Ariel and James were working alongside what appeared to be a very expensive and luxurious caravan, which led James to realise what the main objective of this floor mission was.
After only a short time, when the luxurious carriage came to a halt, the whole queue of the caravan came to a standstill, and then the carriage window opened a little and a woman's voice said, "You, blue hair!"
When James looked around, he saw that no one else had blue hair except him, and as if he thought he was in trouble, he politely asked, "Yes, madam, how can I help you?"
The person or persons inside the carriage would have been surprised as if they had not expected James to be so polite that giggles and small talk were heard from inside.
Then the opposite of what James expected happened. The carriage door opened and then he heard a woman's voice say, "Come in, the Empress wants to meet you."
James and Ariel behind him were surprised to hear the word 'empress', and yet James entered the carriage very politely as if obeying an order.
In just one day they had experienced so much of the usual.
When James got into the carriage, he realised that there were three women in the carriage. As he gently sat down where he was shown, the voice of the woman who was seen as the most 'bright and beautiful' among them rose:
"I recognise the darkness rising from your body, the fact that it is not an evil darkness reveals the brightness of your soul, if I am not mistaken, the being you worship must be Nyx herself."
James smiled gently when he heard these words and then said, "It would be wrong to say I worship, my lady, forgive my rudeness, but the lady you call Nyx is my mother."
The group, including the Empress herself, seemed surprised by James' words.
"Please don't lie about this, it may not seem like it, but the gods and goddesses we have are very important to us. We worship Hyperion, the embodiment of war, and we know well those who are seen as his brothers and sisters, the lady Nyx is very important to us." the empress suddenly said, and James, who heard these words, instantly turned the system window visible to everyone and showed Nyx's messages to the trio in the carriage.
The Empress was incredibly surprised.
"If I'm not mistaken, I've spoken to Hyperion once or twice, my lady," he said, and then smiled and showed the messages of Hyperion.
'We... So you are a climber? I don't know what kind of fate has brought us here, I just wanted to meet you because I like your darkness and your eyes so much, but it turns out that you are even more important than I thought.' the empress said and gently extended her hand to James and said, "My name is Cordelia, I am known as the Empress of the Mountains."
James, feeling a strange bond of friendship forming now, took Cordelia's hand gently and began to introduce himself in the most garish way possible:
"I am James Arthur Black, known as Umbra of Chaos, Terror Incarnate, Fallen God Killer and Poison Master. I am the beloved husband of Lady Nyx's daughter Nemesis and the main leader of the Church of Night. Pleased to meet you."
It was the beginning of a more than adequate friendship.
James was quite happy because, strangely, he seemed to have managed to take the easy way out. He hadn't given any thought to how wrong he might be, though.
After all, the mission of this floor was not to meet the Empress, but something much bigger.