Way of the Knights

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"Welcome and my deepest apologies for not receiving you personally to Atlantis, Young Lord Raven." 

A man wearing an aqua-marine colored robes and was holding a golden trident bowed before Raven as soon as he arrived at the palace. This man had a shoulder-length brown hair, thick brows, pupils that resembles the brightest sapphires. He had a thick and long beard, a deep tanned skin filled with tribal tattoos, he was also barefooted and had a deep and unfathomable aura surrounding him.

Aside from this man, there are also a line of soldiers standing upright behind him. Each one wore an deep blue armor on top of their uniforms and held spears which were pointed at the sky.

This man is none other than the current Poseidon himself. 

"It is nice to meet you again, Elder Lorenzo. Although you didn't have to personally receive. I'm just here for a little bit of sight seeing." Raven smiled and bowed back to him. 

"No, It is a customary behavior for me to do this. Especially after the horrible things you've experience in my domain. For that, I am truly sorry. You did not deserve any of those. I promise that such thing will never happen again." 

"What's done is done. And the culprit is already punished so no need for us to talk about it anymore. How have you been so far, Lord Lorenzo?" Raven asked while smiling. 

"Decent, Young Lord. However compared to you, I have it easier, I truly wish I could share as much burdens as you do to contribute to our cause - oh, this way please." Lorenzo gestured towards the red carpet leading to the entrance of the castle. 

The two of them continued to talk formally to each other as they walked inside the castle. Lorenzo gave Raven a bit of a tour of the palace. He showed him all the important areas in there that supported Atlantis as a whole. 

By the time they were done, two hours already passed. Lorenzo lead Raven towards his private chambers to have a meal. Once inside, the two of them sat at the opposite sides of the table and began eating, Lorenzo sent away the servants and activated the privacy seals within his room. 

As soon as there's only the two of them, Lorenzo sighed and rested his back against his chair with a stressed face. Raven smiled as he continued his meal though. 

"I am very sorry about that." Lorenzo's noble air seemingly disappeared and was replaced by his true nature. He almost knocked his forehead on the table as he asked for Raven's forgiveness. "Seriously, I took my eyes away from him just for an hour and this happened. Please excuse us." 

Raven chuckled and said: "Lift your head up, come on. That's bad table manners."

"Oh, right. My bad." Lorenzo was stunned for a brief second before re-adjusting his posture. That being said, he still had this rough body language that is, for whatever reason, fits his whole image. This is Lorenzo's true colors, something that Raven was surprised by during the first time but not anymore. 

All the noble air, graceful demeanor - basically the way how he acts when there's people around, is just a facade. This is what he truly is. A 'thug'-ish man with a good heart and extreme loyalty towards the sect. 

"So it would seem that Elias will truly inherit your title." Raven commented. 

"Ugh, yes unfortunately." Lorenzo rolled his eyes as he stabbed at the meat on his plate as if releasing his frustrations on it using a fork. He took an entire steak and swallowed it all in one go. He made sure to swallow everything first before continuing his words...

"I honestly don't know why he was chosen, literally anyone else would've been better." 

"You're not happy that your little brother was chosen to inherit your title? Why?" Raven was confused as he took a sip of his tea. "Nice tea by the way." 

"Thanks, that's rather rare. I'm glad you liked it." Lorenzo smiled, but it then disappeared the moment he started talking about the issue with his little brother. "And yes, I doesn't really make me happy, but for a different reason entirely."

"It's not about the fact that my brother will take my place and I'll be shunned aside, frankly if he was chosen and he's going to do a much better job than I do, then I would've gladly step down. But see that's the problem though, he's my little brother. I've been raising him for centuries now, our parents left us early. I know him much better that he does. And it's precisely due to that, that I'm not happy that he was chosen."

A sigh of defeat and an wry expression appeared on his face. "At this point, I think Elias just doesn't want to grow up. He just want to be a man-baby for the rest of his life, even after I repeatedly told him that I won't always be at his side. He's too dependent on me and he refuses to become a man and shoulder responsibilities."

"Did you pampered him a lot when he was growing up?" Raven asked. 

"Oh, dear god no." Lorenzo profusely shook his head. "I would never do something like that. In fact, the only reason why he chose to cultivate is quite literally because I am pushing him to do so. I know that sound like I am dictating his life but what can I say, I don't want to lose my brother. He's the only family I have left. I don't even care if he hated me, he doesn't have to forgive me either, I just want him to live."

"I respect that. A lot." Raven nodded and fully sympathized with Lorenzo. "Well, I'm not really in a position to say this since I left my twin sisters back at the lower planes, but did the idea of just...you know, letting him live as a mortal and silently watch over him, crossed your mind?" 

"It did. Many time actually." Lorenzo smiled wryly again, "I thought about erasing his memories and resetting his cultivation back to it's lower degree, letting him live a peaceful and normal life while I stick around and just watch over him until he reaches the natural end of his lifespan."

"But you see, the thought of watching him die before me really freaked me out. Heck, even just the thought of seeing him grow up to become an old man really scared me a lot...I don't know maybe I'm just being selfish but if someone's going to die, I want me to be the first one to go, I don't think I'll be able to handle it if I saw him die before me." 

"Yeah, that's kind of selfish. Not going to lie." Raven commented as he continued enjoying his meal. "But I can't say I don't get you because I truly do. I know the feeling. If there's any redeeming factors about your current situation, it would be the fact that you've done everything in your power to protect him, although he might be terrified of you, Elias is not dumb and he knows that everything you're doing is for his sake."

"In this, you've handled this much better than I did." Raven commented while feeling a little bit nostalgic.

"But here comes the problem though, he got chosen to inherit my place." Lorenzo slumped at his seat once again. "The responsibilities that I'm handling, all will be passed down to him. That guy is nowhere near ready for this, frankly I don't even know if he even wants this at all."

"Well, he could've rejected it he truly wanted to. It's not like the consequences of rejecting title is something you can't handle. In the end though, he didn't refuse it didn't he? Or did you tell him not to refuse it?"

"I made it specifically clear that if doesn't want the title, he could refuse it and I'll take care of him." Lorenzo said. 

"Well then there you have it." Raven shrugged. "That means Elias acted out of his own free will. He chose to accept it and follow your footsteps, if you will. He has some courage at least. Although his pranks aren't as cute as he thinks." 

"I am very sorry about that." Lorenzo knocked his head on the table once more when he got reminded of that matter. 

"Ah, well. It's fine, I'm no longer upset. But I do plan and giving you a hand if that's fine with you." Raven suggested. 

"Please do, as long as he comes back alive and in one piece, even if he has to suffer, teach him a lesson. He badly needs it." Lorenzo nodded eagerly since it's clear that he truly ran out of options already. 

"Alright then. I can do that." Raven patted his lips using the clean table cloth on his lap. He then stood up from his seat and said: "Tell me, how well does he know this sea?"

Lorenzo was confused at first but he immediately understood what Raven was planning. His eyes gleamed as he replied: 

"He knows it very well, but it's been a while since we did a knowledge check." 

"Ah, is that so? Well, I guess I might as well take care of that while I'm here." 

"His room is towards this way, Young Lord."

"I appreciate it."

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