Chapter 255 [Bonus ] The Dura Kingdom

"Father, did you approve of the plans to send out out men?" In a distant kingdom north of the Central Continent, a young, blond haired man with soft features stepped up to his father's table.

"Oh, Damian." A middle aged man who bore similar features to the young man looked up. "Yes, I gave my approval some time ago. The transportation gates to the Gublin Empire are being warmed up."

"Ah, that's good. We must make sure the same tragedy of the Great Shift does not happen again." The young man, Damian, smiled and tucked his long hair behind his ear. As he pushed back his hair, he revealed his long, pointy ears.

He was an Elf!

"You also want to go?" Damian's father, Raymond, asked curiously.

"Yes. I still need to test out my new battle partner." Damian grinned widely.

"That... You are taking the Castle Golem with you?" Raymond paused with a frown on his face.

"Yes... Will there be a problem with that?" Damian asked hesitantly. He did not want to do anything that would cause trouble for his father.

"Oh no. It's not problem. I was just thinking of how troublesome it will be to fit it through a transportation gate." Raymond laughed, easily switching gears and avoiding the real answer to the question.

Damian noticed this but did not say anything. He knew the real reason why his father was hesitating to send the Castle Golem with him.

Damian had claimed the Castle Golem as his own during Divinity's Bout. With the Castle Golem's power, and the A rank puppets that were held within the Golem, the high rank combat power of their kingdom soared!

The kingdom of Dura was a kingdom founded by Damian's father a century ago. They were immigrants from the Rivera Continent, the homeland of Elves. The reason they had left was because of the blatant hate and disgust that was directed toward those of mixed and impure blood.

Elves held their bloodline to incredibly high standards. The purity of their bloodline was seen as their worth in elven society.

Raymond and Damian were pure blooded Elves, but they did not like the bias and stigmatization that was shown to the Elves who were of impure blood.

Raymond was formerly a high ranking noble of the Elven kingdom that was on the Rivera Continent. As the righteous and kind hearted person that he was, he had donated money to his people and gone out of his way to make the lives of those of impure blood better. But even then, his efforts did not pay out as much as he hoped.

So, with his considerable wealth and strength, he had taken those he could from the Rivera Continent and traveled to the Central Continent to start anew and create a home where all would be welcome regardless of the purity of their bloodline.

Of course, his actions had been met with plenty of backlash and pushback from the nobles of the elven society. He had endured a lot of pressure over the past century, and the Dura Kingdom had been through a lot.

However, the people were grateful and understanding of Raymond's situation, so even when things were not at their best, they still supported their king to the best of their abilities.

So far, everything had paid off, and Dura had grown into a powerful kingdom that retained the protection of multiple A rank beings. However, even then, Dura could not compete with the entirety of Rivera, and still faced suppression from multiple angles.

With Damian's participation in Divinity's Bout, he had secured a great number of resources for Dura, and also come back stronger than ever! Just the presence of the Castle Golem was almost the same thing as having four to five Low-Mid A ranks on hand! Perhaps even more! Not even Raymond had been able to see the full strength of the Castle Golem yet.

If Damian took the Castle Golem with him to the Desolate Lands, then that would mean that Dura would temporarily lose the protection of such a strong force. If anything happened to Damian and the Castle Golem, then that would put Dura in an even worse position than before. Raymond could not even imagine the full repercussions of such a tragedy taking place. He could imagine that Rivera would surely pounce on such an opportunity to destabilize Dura.

"You worry too much, father." Damian sighed and shook his head. He could tell what Raymond was thinking. He was no child to be so oblivious to his father's thoughts.

"I guess I do." Raymond sighed and sat back in his chair, folding his arms and looking out of the window that was beside his table. He saw the sprawling city beneath him, with people of all kinds, from all walks of life, milling about and interacting with each other, and his heart calmed down.

"I'm getting old, Damian. But whenever I see Dura, I feel like I'm just a hundred again." Raymond sighed.

"Your two hundredth birthday is coming soon. Don't worry, I will surprise you." Damian smiled and patted his father's hand before turning and leaving the office.

"...My two hundredth birthday, huh? I really am getting old." Raymond sighed and turned his head to the side. A small trinket on the side of his table caught his eye and he stared at it for a few moments.

The trinket depicted a red dragon rising upwards while breathing a plume of fire.

"..." Raymond's gaze remained on the trinket for a minute before he turned away and shook his head. "Not yet. It is not time." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat upright, turning back to the papers that were spread out in front of him. He did not pay any more attention to the trinket.

As Raymond worked on the inexhaustible stack of papers that were on his desk, Damian walked through the royal castle. His feet brought him to a massive space underneath the castle. There, a world of its own seemed to exist, with bright sunlight, and grasses and trees. In the distance, a massive, white castle stood, affixed onto the top of a large, rough rock.