Author's Notes:Ah, well, I won't mince words here. You know, I'm in a crisis.

The pressure is great over this side.

Our arc's about to end and I want to deliver it as best as I can while not leaving any important plot hole and element unchecked before the very last chapter.

That's pretty obvious to you all by now, yeah?

Although I may delay in updates because of some issues in health and in cash, I do put in all my best to make the story worth flipping over chapter by chapter.

While I was writing Chapter 156 to 160, I received a lot of comments and curious questions to at least over 20 different people asking me about clarification about "why is this" and "why did that happen when this was this in this chapter..." and such in Vol.6 and most especially in Vol.7.

To tell you honestly, I enjoyed their questions but the pressure was there. Because the only reason I was able to answer their questions is because I paid extra attention to the smallest details of when I was writing our story, especially those inner monologues and conversation details of the main and side characters.

Every little detail in the story, every little thing that happens, they were all connected to the bigger picture of our story... even the past chapters and small references were important. Especially those easily cast aside gestures of the characters like putting a hand in the head, face twitches, sighs, and even just the presence of them, even if they don't actually do anything. Those were important because they tell us a lot of things happening within the scene which also becomes the foundation in future chapters.

And that's what's putting the pressure on me.

You see, the [Blueprint] I use to guide my writing of our Siva story doesn't contain any "dialogue" in it —meaning, I have to be the one to plan all their dialogues and exchanges as I write. And for the readers who paid extra attention on them, when dialogues are present in the chapter, the chapter tends to have little events and more interactions in it, stretching the chapter longer and then many will say that "nothing happened" in the chapter and only had a lot of unnecessary talks.

—that although I want to argue that all those talks are important, it was indeed boring to read when taking the side of you readers who wanted more action than words.

I, as the author, was the one to blame because I still have a long way to go before I actually create a "conversation chapter" where the dialogue was entertaining, intriguing, and curious to read.

But the thing is, like I said in previous NOTES, my blueprint's "instructions" may actually be just a short simple lines like "Rex rescues Amanda" but the entire thing may actually extend from just one chapter up to two or even three.

—this was especially so in Volume 6 when the whole volume in my blueprint was just planned to be 40+ chapters but it was actually stretched into 162 in the official release because I had to insert some parts of Volume 7 in it that was connected to the entire plot of Volume 6.

That's what happens to me behind the scenes.

NOTE: I am not healthy. If you're watching the international news, Philippines had just suffered a drop in temperature up to 9 degrees Celsius. That's too cold for a Tropical Country and so those with weak constitution, I, for one, caught this sickness called Flu or something. Paired with my stress, I was bed ridden for three days + still coughing even until my Body-Temp normalized today. I should have posted these chapters last week but can't due to being sick. Headache's still there, it's throbbing. But I owed you guys these chapters so as soon as I can walk, I got up and visited the nearest Net Cafe to update. There are a lot of things to consider and it's keeping me health fall without me realizing them. Right now, I am planning to go back into the exercise routine but honestly, my mental self was screaming at me, telling me that the 2hrs spent in exercise could have been 1000+ words into that blank page in WORD.

Now I'm actually experiencing what the author of Hunter-X-Hunter was experiencing when he spent three years bed-ridden to recuperate from the fall of his health from stress while writing the "Wider World Arc" of the current HxH chapters. I felt that my situation was worse since I have a bad health history and it's scaring me to death thinking of the next attack while i'm in the midst of writing.

On my part, while it's still not THAT serious, I do feel the headache every now and then would lead to the worse and so I had to stop and relax. Always... there was this fear of the previous attacks coming back. Right now, I admit that my health is in the red lines again and my mom and I almost fell out as I defended my work while she told me to find "actual work" that pays more money than just a few dollars every month that I get from my Patrons.

Well, I do admit that I hadn't thought it would be this hard to write this story to the point that mom's concern for my health —because now, my body clock is officially broken again (I'm now back to being a nocturnal guy)— has evolved into nagging that I do (secretly) enjoy since I feel her love for me.

But yes, I'm afraid to die without finishing this.

The headaches are coming back and although it's not serious now, these were the same patterns I felt last year and mom's worried about that. But it's not as if I could also stop here now. I'm in the tide and the momentum is coming back to me. I had to use this momentum to move on.

Just these two weeks of writing alone, I wrote 12 chapters that I compressed and compiled into this update (Ch156 to Ch160).

Expect that I will be dishing out long chapters that are longer than the already long chapters before, but I will try my best to shorten them from two weeks of writing into one... at least ten days. That is the best I can do with my current ability. Please forgive me for always being delayed with updates.

It's because, like I said before, I don't want to get over 200 chapters in one volume and I don't want to sacrifice the quality of the story for faster but shabbier releases.

Although the pressure is there, it was rewarding because the attention I paid for these little details are my pride.

While I do think there are still inconsistencies out there, I still beg of you, dear readers, to point them out to me so that I can clarify, change, or even adjust them out or explain why that is so in the future.

Also, I thank you guys for the support. So here you are..... them chapters. As a tribute, I would like to address that these are long chapters and should be enough to cover 3 weeks of being absent. Sorry about the delay and please be patient and enjoy.

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PS: From time to time, I'd be posting "illustrations" with my novel to better explain the point of the context so please look forward to them. ;D

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Chapter 121: The Sinister Old Men

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When the World Nobles above saw this scene, the entire venue's attention got fixed to the woman in her (perhaps) later 30's who casually sipped her wine as if nothing was happening.

The last ones to actually point their inquiring gaze at her was the group of old men from the Five Great Clans whose status was way above that of her Christiana Monarchy.

In fact, while they are also part of the UNICORN, they aren't in the faction of the Thornberry Family.

The Christiana Monarchy is a subsidiary of House of Abraxas —an indication being their NanoTech Weaponry being partly invented by the executives of this secretive militaristic ancestral enterprise.

"You really surprised us, Lass. To think you have already picked an heir this early..." The one who spoke was actually Chronos.

"It's all for convenience, Family Head. The girl's an excellent candidate and before anyone and even anything could happen to her, I'd be taking her in my protection this early and teaching her what she must do so she has more time to adjust."

The old man understood the meanings behind the words and he gave her a nod and went back on observing the reactions of the young'uns below them. Their reactions varied: there were big and small —and most of them were men whose eyes couldn't decide where to focus their gaze into; it's either her gorgeous visible chin and shoulders, or the pendant with a weird crystal metallic diamond in between her collar bone that tempted them to glance over her chest.

In short —she was really gorgeous!

But all the same, the words "World Noble" couldn't be denied to be attached to her identity and this alone is enough reason for majority of these men swallow their hearts in fear that their desires were shown in their faces. So they lowered their heads.

And to those "normal" people who were invited in this place the normal way, those who're not aware of the significance of that pendant; bathed her in their adulterated stares and this only made the girl feel even more aware of herself.

* * * * *

She realized that coming in this place may have been a mistake after all and yet, remembering the resolve she displayed in front of Margrave Bryn, she held on and walked "proud" with no qualms in the eyes currently bathing her body.

Thankfully, [he] was with her. The warm touch of [his] hand on hers gave her the strength to walk on with her head held high amongst these people.

* * * * *

All of the old men above locked their gazes at the man; who wouldn't know of the incident that made a certain name famous overnight?

Mitra —someone emotionally connected to the girl who was "chosen" as the next Queen of Christiana Monarchy. On their level, something huge like the kidnapping incident of the Christiana Monarchy's next heir to the throne and the immediate fall of the House Levingston thereafter was like the sun in the day... it was an incident so bright even blind men would go blind again seeing it.

Besides, "Mitra" wasn't even a secret as the man himself has been making a rather annoying noise in the world market as of late.

He's been snooping around profitable moments at the last second of each opportunity and even as there are no forecasted advantages on a deal, he will still win at the very next instance that the stock market fluctuates. Those are microsecond micro-financing deals done in a massive scale in a very short amount of time —short enough to actually be as fast as you blink your eye.

This alone was enough reason for World Nobles to pay attention to this "Mitra" who, according to an underground source, was actually a group and not just a single person's doing.

For these old men, they trusted this report.

No man could be on two places doing deals and also hacking a live framework as well as rescuing the Christiana Heir at the same time.

At the very least, there are four or five people in this group known as "Mitra" and all of them are on the genius-level of abilities.

Knowing all these, Chronos, while seemingly had his eyes on the happenings below, secretly eyed the old man in imaging.

And at that same moment, Goldwyn Godfather just then also sneaked a glance at his direction, shook his head microscopically in resignation, making the Abraxas Family Head frown and utter a secret sigh upon himself.

In the end, these were all done on a whim and this lad with the Christiana Monarchy's Heir is indeed, in fact, a member of Mitra —their [Military Unit], at the very least, and above else, was Rex Kingsley whom is the linchpin where the end result of their plan lay in hopes of completion.

—well, it's not as if anything's going to change the result. It's on its last phase already anyways.

——time is all it needs and it cannot be stopped.

Thinking thus, the two old men made a smile that only the two of them understood.

Regardless of whoever discovers it, whatever they do, it cannot be stopped. The end-result is already set in stone. Only the manner at which it will make itself —Project Salvation— known is the final and only question left.

Is it going to be them?

Is it going to be Rex Kingsley himself?

....or is it going to be Pegasus or somebody else?

Regardless of whoever it was that's going to push that red switch, the plan is already in full motion.

Project Salvation is done with the [Key] landing on the hands of Goldwyn Godfather. Everything else around it is nothing more than entertainment until the day Project Salvation manifests.

******

Alas, the world around those two old men weren't aware of the schemes happening around them.

They were all focused on the man walking beside the Christiana Heir, with different opinions running through their greedy political heads.

Whoever he was, to be able to thwart a dweller of "Murim" and save all the hostages, he was at least trained in combat and with skills like his, there are only a very select few that would come in mind.

(AN: Murim = Korean slang referring for the dark underground world of raw power and politics. I could've used "Underground World" to generalize the idea of it but I want it to sound cool so I used the Korean term for it. I could have even used "Mafia World" but its cliché so I used the lesser-used term "Murim" to represent the existence of the world-wide Underground Civilization who was both terrifyingly brutal and plainly power-based)

Chronos, again, glanced over at Goldwyn and this time, the latter gave him a microscopic nod.

They had the same thought process and agreed (secretly) on a certain plan many years ago so they knew who and what to worry about.

"Hahahaha... I see." Chronos couldn't help but bid his laughter. "Very clever indeed!"

The two other Family Heads understood that the old man had finally grasped the real identity of this young man with the Christiana Heir and they fought the urge to ask Chronos about it.

"There's no need to hold your breaths. It is pretty easy to guess the identity of that man anyways." A vague but also clear reply.

"Ho?"

"But I'm too excited to know, Your Grace. Might you please enlighten this old man?"

Since Project Salvation is already set in stone, this small variable in their plan might prove to be worth an entertaining spectacle to watch. So why hold the reins to ignite a fun? He might as well start the fire himself. So Chronos stirred the crowd.

Chronos laughed again and glanced back at the 'Queen' and smiled at her, "You don't mind me if I share his identity, yes?"

The Queen bids an intoxicating short laugh as she gestured her approval with a wave of his hand that held her wine glass. "Go on, Family Head, it's not even a secret anyways."

"Very well." Chronos obliged and swiped the air to display a search result that didn't take two seconds to accomplish. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the identity of the Young Man with our next Queen of Christiana Monarchy... a member of the renowned group, [Mitra]...."

When the World Nobles saw the picture, they all couldn't help but gasp in surprise. [He] is indeed not a secret character. In fact, all his feats showed that he's a rather special individual in all respects.

The man below them right now is none other than [Siva] —and to think that he was also a part of the rising group of genius stock brokers, "Mitra", is a thought too shocking to process and accept in just mere seconds after knowing it.

"It is a small world." said the Campbell Family Head as he gazed over the man below them. "To think a young man is this accomplished..."

"Strong. Dependable. A Genius. No woman could ever deny the charisma of such a man." The Head of the Missilefeller Family added. "I wasn't even as accomplished like him when I was younger."

It was a question directed to the Queen.

At this question, the World Nobles couldn't help to look at his direction. Indeed. It was one matter that he is a genius but to be able to become part of the World Noble Circles is another matter on its own.

Who is he and why is he close to her heir?

No, in fact, the question is... is this a show? This young man —as obvious by his physique— just popped out of nowhere and appeared in front of them today. They didn't know his background nor did they know who he actually was.

Alas, no one, aside from Chronos and Goldwyn, is even aware that the girl beside [Siva] was none other than the heir herself as well. Their attention was focused solely on [Siva]. Anyhow, this wasn't a secret Christiana Monarchy would even hide on their shelves so the Queen left this realization for these fools to wallow into in the near future. Why should she care about their reactions?

One reason she looked down on these nobles is the very fact in itself that based on their reactions alone, she already knew what was running on that head of theirs.

What makes him think that he's eligible to enter the circle of World Nobility just by being close to the heir of the Christiana Monarchy?

More importantly, can he be trusted?

He just suddenly appeared one day. Who knows if he had some beef with the World Nobles or have designs for the Christiana Heir?

If they discover this plan of his, the Queen might favor them and help establish ties in the future!

She glanced over at Goldwyn who was looking at her direction as well with a warm smile.

—yare, yare... what a sinister old man...

She couldn't help but sigh.

This was his deliberate act. He won't gain anything pointing suspicion at "Mitra" but it will still create a lot of heat and activity to erupt that may make the life of the young man a little hard.

Should she help? —she wondered for a moment but dismissed the notion at the next. If "Mitra" was weak as they thought he is, he wouldn't be able to barge into the enemies alone and save Amanda, to escape unscathed in the end.

Queen Brynhild XIV smiled as a reply to the gaze.

—I won't fall for your tricks.

Many questions and possibilities popped up in the minds of these World Nobles and secretly, the two old bones, Chronos and Goldwyn, couldn't help to give each other a secretive smile of approval.

They are the only ones who knew who this Mitra-member really was: Rex Kingsley. And Rex is their [project specimen] —making his life worse than it already is will bring more fruits to their project.