Jessica's expression only seemed to become worse with each passing moment. When the message finally came to a close, she began to whisper into Noah's ear. Clearly, the matter was too urgent for her to even consider leaving this place first. But, it was precisely because of this that Leonel learned exactly what happened.
With his senses, how could he not make out a whisper? In fact, even Aina was capable of doing the same thing. Though her mind wasn't on the same level as Leonel's, her five senses were greatly heightened.
'Dream Cloud Prison…?' Leonel's gaze narrowed.
Dream Cloud Prison, compared to Prisons from ancient times, could be considered a paradise. The Empire put a lot of effort into rehabilitation, more than what could be said for most Nations of the past.
However, even with this being the case, there were many who would never step foot outside of the Prison. And, many of those who never would… had never even committed crimes before.
This sounded like a shocking matter, but considering the history of The Empire, maybe it wasn't so after a moment of thought.
The Gene Analysis Exam wasn't just a prerequisite for finding future talents… It was also a test for finding future criminals.
Those that had a high potential to commit petty crimes in the future were mostly ignored. These individuals were allowed to live out their lives and would only be escorted to Dark Cloud Prison upon committing the crimes in question.
However… There were those who were born with more sinister tastes, those who had a high potential for violence and murder. Those people were classified as A-grade Prisoners and were introduced into Dark Cloud Prison in their infancy.
They received visitation from their family. But, other than this, they would spend their lives within the walls of the Dark Cloud Prison…
But, this was only the beginning. While there were those with potential for horrid acts of violence and murder, there were others who not only had such desires, but also had tools to commit them that far surpassed the normal person…
These people were geniuses who were born to be Five Star Professionals, prodigies that had impossible levels of intelligence to match their twisted nature.
They were known as Dark Prisoners and received the highest level of security Dark Cloud Prison had to offer.
As for whether it was ethical to punish people before they committed the crimes they were supposedly destined to, Leonel wasn't sure. If he was honest with himself, he never really thought about it before. Dark Cloud Prison was so far and away out of his mind in his day to day life that like most privileged people, he just never thought about it.
But now, it seemed that Dark Cloud Prison had no intention of staying away from his life any longer.
That said… judging by Jessica's words, this seemed like a good opportunity.
When Jessica finished whispering to Noah, his expression, too, became serious.
Leonel smiled and looked toward Aina. "Want to go to Dark Cloud Province?"
Jessica's lip twitched when she heard these words. He didn't even bother asking them first how they felt about it? And, couldn't he have at least pretended as though he hadn't heard anything? After all, this was technically top secret information.
But, when Jessica remembered that Leonel was also technically a Prince, she realized that he really could do whatever he wanted. Unless her father or Tyrron's father was here, there would be no way to command him to do anything.
And, even in that case, Jessica somehow believed it wouldn't matter. After all, it really didn't seem like Leonel was relying on the Prince title at all. He would have done whatever he wanted to do from the very beginning.
Aina nodded at Leonel's suggestion.
At this point, both of their goals were in sync. Aina wanted to grow stronger and so did Leonel. If he didn't grow stronger, how could he possibly upgrade the Segmented Cube to cure Aina?
"It's settled then." Leonel smiled and looked back toward Noah, Jessica and Tyrron. "I think my proposal was in line with The Empire's bottom line, correct?"
Noah gazed at Leonel for a moment before nodding.
"Good."
Not long later, Noah, Jessica and Tyrron got up to leave. Tyrron left behind a slight smile, but didn't say anything from the start of the meeting to the end. It was difficult to tell if this was just his personality or if there was something else.
"So what hole did you throw me into, kid?"
Finally, Arthur couldn't hold back any longer. He had heard the negotiations, but without understanding Earth's laws, it was tough for him to follow everything that was said. In the end, he could only trust in Leonel, something that left him feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
Leonel chuckled. "It's a good thing, I promise…"
After Leonel finished his explanation, Mordred and Arthur fell into their own thoughts.
"So we have to rely on you?" Arthur sighed.
"Well, not necessarily." Leonel said with a grin.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, what do you think I was doing before I came to this battlefield?"
"Wait, but according to your reasoning, anything we did before becoming official citizens is void. And, even if our fight against White City was counted, it would be split even across every soldier that participated in the war. That wouldn't be enough merits to even trade for a Tier 4 Official title, let alone a noble title."
Arthur pressed his brows together.
"Yes, you weren't official citizens. But, what about me?" Leonel's grin widened.
"Ah…"
Arthur and Mordred suddenly came to a realization. That was right. While their merits would be mitigated, Leonel wasn't in the same boat. And… Hadn't he just wiped out 10 White Knights and over half of White City's elite forces practically on his own?
"… Not only did a 'Prince' take out half of the army, but this 'Prince's' girlfriend also killed their City Lord."
Aina blushed slightly beneath her mask and looked away. But, she didn't make any attempts to refute.
Seeing such a scene, Mordred grinned and winked at Leonel only for him to put two big thumbs up.
"Aina can be considered a person under my wing, so you can say, effectively, all the merits for clearing out White City falls to us. Giving those merits over to the Pendragon family is well within my rights.
"Though I'm not sure how many merits the other nobles have, I read over the method of calculation. If my simulations are correct, there should already be no problem to trade for a Secretary Marquise title."
Leonel smiled lightly, his cheeriness being seen in a new light by the father-daughter pair.