Chapter 43: The Researcher
While Solomon and Alice reconciled and began their training, the king has just reached his castle. He didn't waste any time and made the necessary arrangements. Two of his most trusted butlers signed all the necessary documents piled on his desk while he himself went straight to the royal library. A place frequented by him and, another person which he saw as soon as he opened its doors.
"This is a surprise, you finally came back from the grave?" A tall and slender woman greeted him. Her long black hair was in a messy bun and, her eyes had the same color as Alice's. She wore a lab coat which went over her white tank top and, a khaki brown cargo pants as her bottom while her feet were bare.
"Oh you're actually here Lilia." King Jubilee had a wide smile on his face, walking straight to a section of books.
"Uhmm you did tell me to research on all the monsters and machine parts during the earthen years so, yeah I'm still here."
"Hahaha! Lovely! You can help me then, come on, your king will reward you greatly if you can find that book."
"You keep saying that but all your ever give me is more workload."
"This'll be different! Trust me! I swear on my honor as the king." Jubilee furthered, finally stopping at a large section and began digging through the books.
"Fine, what's the name of the book?"
"There's only one copy so you should be keen."
"Sure. Now, the title please?"
"It's the rulebook of the Culling."
Although it doesn't seem like it, the female researcher is actually married to king Jubilee. Lilia Pendragon is the second wife of King Jubilee Pendragon.
However, they did not marry out of love but rather due to necessity. She was thrown out by her family for all her crazy ideas and, for using their resources in order to buy parts and machinery from the black market. She also bought a lot of blueprints and books from the earthen years, ones which his family thought to be obsolete and useless.
With the appearance of runes, magic crystals, and powers, a lot of technology have been discarded altogether. A large part of this was because there was no way to mass produce them. Yet it was also due to the fact that, the generation that came after the Great World War was a different class of humans altogether. After all, the Seraphims did massacre all the original humans on earth.
"What color is it? That'd make this faster." Lilia put on her glasses and rolled up her sleeves.
"It's black." King Jubilee brought a ladder, climbing to the topmost section.
"This'll really take some time then." Lilia commented, seeing most of the books in that section having the same hardbound shade as their cover.
The reason why Lilia took interest in these things was because, she had a dream. One where the old and lost technology would be integrated with what each domain currently had. But, as mentioned, the problem was with the lack of natural resources, the funding, and those who share a similar intertest with her.
That led Lilia to the said point of being disowned by her family. Thrown into the streets where she was supposed to suffer. Yet fate shone upon her because, during that time, the king was actually tracking down the person who was hording all of the materials he wanted from the black market. This was none other than Lilia.
The researcher told everything to the king. Putting them in a difficult spot because, all of Lilia's belongings were confiscated by her family. She could only reclaim the items if her family was to take her back. The only way to do so is for her to bring honor to her family. But this was an impossible task because she was from the house of Irithels which prided themselves in battle prowess; something which Lilia was lacking altogether.
King Jubilee then understood what needed to be done. With the approval of Lilia, the two were suddenly engaged. It was the ultimate honor that she could bring, especially because her family knew that no sane man would actually come for her. In fact, Lilia's father even commented that King Jubilee had an "exotic taste" when it came to women.
This worked two ways for Jubilee who reinforced connections with the household. Making them the primary supplier of high-quality soldiers, with some being trainers for the military school. Second, with her honor restored, the partners in crime were able to take back all the black market items.
This was how the platonic relationship of the two began. They were both dedicated to finding out the truth of the world and, while King Jubilee focused on the spiritual side, Lilia focused on the mechanical side. And with their knowledge combined, together with the help of [Solomon's Wisdom], they built Pentagon from the ground up. Giving Pandora a home where she stayed and recovered.
"Here you go you slave driver." Lilia finally found the book after an hour long search. She was so sweaty that she needed to take off her lab coat, showing a lot of skin because of the white sleeveless undershirt that was left.
"Thank you Lilia! By the way you're looking sexy without your lab coat."
"Oh yeah? What about it?"
Lilia was a natural beauty. Due to her family's history, her body actually had a crazy ability to burn down calories just by moving normally. Adding this up with her constant thinking and reading made it impossible for her to gain more weight. Maintaining he body that would be desired by men if not for her always hiding it under a lab coat.
Plus, her head was a bit weird. She wasn't affected by flirting nor any advancements of the noble men when she was a teenager. All she ever cared about were machines.
"You never change do you?" Jubilee mentioned, with his lips curving to a smile.
"And you keep on changing." She said, slumping down the ground while activating a handheld fan powered by an electric crystal.
"So what got you looking for that book anyway?"
"It's for our titans this year." Jubilee began scanning through the pages. Going through every sticky note he placed and reading back on rules of the Culling that were long forgotten.
"For the titans…" Lilia thought about it for a few seconds and, as soon as the lines connected she rose back up.
"Wait, don't tell me you finally found one."
"There's two actually."
"TWO SEED AWAKENERS!"
"Goodness Lilia, you really have no traits of a noble do you?"
"Okay, first of all asswipe, you promised that you'd bring those specimens to me as soon as you found some right? Why am I only learning about this now?"
"Because, those same children are our titans."
"Are you being serious right now? What if they get killed out there?"
"They won't that's why I'm looking through the rules Lilia."
"Urghhh you just got to have an answer for everything don't you?"
"Of course, that's how I got you to be my wife right?" Jubilee said, giving a split-second glance at Lilia with a smirk plastered on his face.
"Yeah, yeah. But I'm coming back to Pentagon with you at least. I need to do some checks on the system and on Pandora's core. Plus, I want to see those kids."
"Sure thing. I was actually going to bring you with me anyway."
"Why are you being so considerate all of a sudden? What's the catch devil incarnate?"
"Hahaha. You really catch on quickly." Jubilee closed the book, staring at Lilia who had her eyebrows almost meeting in the middle.
"The weapons and equipment of this year's titans. We're gonna use all your inventions on them." Lilia only sighed, feeling the amount of work that was sure to come together with this.
"You're really gonna start it now huh?"
"We have two of the keys already. It's time we stop this façade and show the other domains which one truly stands on top."
There were only a few people which Jubilee trusted. With the use of [Solomon's Wisdom], he could determine which would be loyal to him and which ones would betray him. Strangely enough, within this small circle, it was Lilia wo had the highest amount of loyalty.
"Remember your promise to me Jubilee." Lilia simply said as she proceeded to getting her things in her study.
"Of course Lilia. Nothing will stop me now."