Chapter 278: The Meeting Has Become Luke’s Harem Gathering!

"Don’t even think about my husband."

Her grip around Luke’s arm tightened.

"Otherwise, you’ll regret it."

Alia simply smiled.

She calmly met Selene’s crimson gaze without showing the slightest trace of fear.

Although direct combat wasn’t her specialty, she wasn’t helpless.

As a member of the Demi-Owl royal bloodline, she possessed several powerful and secret techniques.

She simply rarely fought.

Because of that, many people had mistakenly assumed that she was weak.

Now, however, the atmosphere between the two women gradually became tense.

Neither looked away.

Crackle...

Zap...

It almost seemed as though invisible sparks was flashing between their gazes.

Luke stood between them with an expression that clearly said he had absolutely no idea what to do.

Still, he wisely chose to remain silent.

Just as it seemed the two women were about to start fighting—

"Ahem."

Roderan finally stepped in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we should begin our discussion." Roderan’s calm voice immediately brought the two women back to their senses.

Neither Selene nor Alia dared to openly disrespect an A-Rank powerhouse, especially when he was speaking so calmly.

Still, before taking her seat, Selene gave Alia one final warning glare.

Alia, however, simply responded with a sweet smile toward Luke.

Luke kept his expression completely neutral.

’...Don’t get involved.’

Soon, everyone took their seats around the large round table.

But—

"Why are almost all the women sitting around him?" Nolan couldn’t help but sigh.

The other men exchanged similarly speechless glances.

Because apart from Lirael, who was sitting beside Arwen, and Joria, who was seated beside Fael, nearly every woman had somehow ended up beside Luke.

On Luke’s right sat Selene.

Beside her was Karon, followed by Zeyr.

And on Luke’s left—

Alia was sitting directly beside him.

She wore a bright smile as she looked at him.

Worse yet, several sharp-eyed people noticed that she was slowly extending her hand across the table toward Luke’s side.

It was painfully obvious what she wanted.

She was silently inviting him to hold her hand.

Luke noticed it from the corner of his eye.

His mouth twitched.

’Absolutely not.’

Meanwhile, beside Alia sat Isaria, followed by Estelle, Ivar, Kira, and Nolan.

Ivar had originally intended to sit beside Isaria.

However, Isaria had noticed his earlier gaze toward her, and it had made her somewhat uncomfortable.

So, before the meeting began, she had quietly asked Estelle to switch seats with her.

As a result—

Ivar ended up sitting farther away from Isaria.

And now, as everyone looked around the table, they couldn’t help feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

’Why does it feel like Luke has gathered an entire harem around him?’ And this thought came into everyone’s mind.

Meanwhile, Luke silently stared ahead.

He had absolutely no idea how the seating arrangement had turned into this.

Then, Luke glanced around once.

So that’s how everyone is arranged.

With that, thought simple example of arrangement, if the round table were viewed like a clock, then he and the others were seated around the 6 o’clock position.

The Marinthians occupied the 9 o’clock position, while Arwen and Lirael sat at 3 o’clock.

At the 12 o’clock position sat the principal and vice principal, with the remaining professors seated beside them on both sides, evenly distributed around the table.

Then, before he could pay much attention to other thing—

"Luke, why did you let her sit beside you?"

Pinch!

Selene suddenly pinched his waist, her expression filled with displeasure.

At the same time—

Rub... rub...

Alia gently rubbed his other waist, seemingly completely unconcerned by Selene’s hostility.

Luke’s expression twitched.

He honestly didn’t know whether he should be happy because Alia’s gentle rubbing was rather ticklish...

Or be worried because Selene was steadily increasing the strength of her pinch.

Pinch... pinch...

’This is going to hurt.’ Roderan and Drevian exchanged a helpless glance.

Neither of them said anything.

After a brief moment, they silently decided to start the meeting and pretend they hadn’t noticed the poor man being attacked from both sides.

"I hope all of you are aware of what we’re going to do next."

Drevian’s calm voice echoed throughout the room as he scanned everyone around the table.

Most people’s expressions remained unchanged, clearly already aware of the matter being discussed.

However—

His gaze eventually landed on Luke.

The confused expression on Luke’s face made it obvious that he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

Drevian paused.

Then he began explaining.

"Our kingdom was established by Eldric Sunborn, the first King of this kingdom and the ancestor of Estelle Sunborn."

He briefly glanced toward Estelle before continuing.

"However, not everyone knows that he wasn’t particularly this much strong from the beginning."

Drevian paused, allowing his words to settle before continuing in a grave voice.

"He discovered something here. Something that granted him the strength he needed to rise to power and eventually establish this very kingdom."

He was revealing this information because it was something they had already disclosed to the Empyrean Academy several months ago, back when they had requested the academy’s assistance.

"Ruins belonging to the Twilight Era."

The moment those words left Drevian’s mouth, Luke’s expression changed.

The atmosphere around the table also grew noticeably heavier.

Although everyone else already knew this information, merely hearing the words Twilight Era was enough to send a chill down their spines.

After all, that era had existed more than one million years ago.

Yet the age of the ruins wasn’t even the most terrifying part.

The Twilight Era was also known by another name.

Drevian’s voice became solemn.

"The Era of the Fall of Gods."

"..."

Silence descended over the room.

A strange sense of dread seemed to creep into everyone’s hearts.

Gods.

Those high and mighty beings who stood above countless races.

Immortal beings who never aged and whose lifespans stretched beyond imagination.

They had died during that era.

And not merely one or two.

Hundreds of gods had perished.

Even after more than a million years, no one knew exactly what had happened.

Infinite theories had been proposed.

Some claimed it had been a war.

Others believed the gods had fought among themselves.

Some even believed that something far more terrifying had descended upon their world.

But none of those theories had ever been proven.

Whatever had happened during the Twilight Era remained one of the greatest mysteries in history.

And whenever its name was spoken—

Even the strongest beings couldn’t help but feel a chill run down their spines.

Drevian took a deep breath, giving everyone a moment to compose themselves after his words.

The tense atmosphere gradually settled.

Luke also calmed down as he began recalling the different eras he had learned about.

The current era was known as the Dusk Era.

It had already lasted for more than 50,000 years and was also called the Age of Rebirth—the era in which heroes began to rise once again.

Before the Dusk Era came the Shadow Era.

An age when darkness had completely enveloped Valtharion.

The sun itself no longer rose during those times, forcing every races to hide deep underground just to survive.

That era had occurred more than 100,000 years ago and was known as the Age of Darkness.