Leonel paused when he heard these words.
Going to the Capital? Just hearing these words seemed to unlock some hidden PTSD he had.
Every organization he had joined to this point had found a way to backstab him. Though the matters with Camelot managed to work themselves out and he even got a few good friends out of it, that didn't change the fact that there was a point where practically everyone in that world wanted his head on a pike despite the truth that, from the very beginning, his only intention was to save all of them.
He couldn't help but feel that if he went to the Capital now, he'd find himself in another less than favorable situation. And, the reality was that this was the very last thing he wanted to deal with at this moment.
Leonel couldn't even think about it in terms of seeing his family. He didn't even really see the Fawkes family in such a light to begin with. As a result, he treated this no differently from an invite to any other organization.
"Reward? What reward?" Leonel evaded the topic.
"Those who accumulate a certain number of merits in a single battle are privy to an Imperial Pendant. Your performance happens to warrant a Ruby Imperial Pendant, which allows you to ask one request of Imperial Grandfather."
"Hm? Is that so?"
Leonel was aware of Imperial Pendants. They were ranked as: Black, Platinum, Ruby and finally Amethyst. Even the lowest was a great honor that one had to scratch and claw for. But, considering Leonel's role in subduing threats that could, without exaggeration, destroy Earth as they knew it, it wasn't too surprising for him to earn a Ruby Imperial Pendant.
As far as Leonel was aware, those who had earned Black Imperial Pendants in the past were able to request to have a residence built for themselves in the Capital.
Compared to the other Provinces of Earth, the Capital was on an entirely different level.
Originally, Leonel had thought that he had never been to the Capital before. But, after learning he was a Prince, he dug into his own memories once again using his Dream Force and managed to recognize the fact he had.
Just living in the Capital increased one's life expectancy by as much as 20 years. This wasn't just because it was safer, but rather because the environment itself was capable of continuously rejuvenating the human body.
This was all to say that just the Black Imperial Pendant was worth an extra 20 years of life. This should be enough to demonstrate the worth of such an achievement.
"In that case, I want to request the rights to White City."
Noah's brows shot up. He looked toward Jessica, only to see that she was just as surprised.
"This…" Noah cleared his throat. "… White City was already requested by Tyrron and the Dove family."
Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Did he also earn an Imperial Pendant?"
Noah shook his head.
"Is White City considered the territory of the Dove Grand Prime Minister family now?"
"… Not exactly."
"Good. Then I want the city." Leonel replied succinctly.
Noah looked toward Leonel, trying to see what his angle was exactly. White City was practically a thankless task to the uninformed. It was filled with citizens who wanted nothing more than to watch Earth fall. Even with 500 elite talents, he was certain that Tyrron wasn't having a good time at the moment.
But, for the Dove family, such an action made sense. Though White City was a headache, it also provided an opportunity. It kept all the culture of an entire other world intact. In addition, it was located on Camelot, another place that was practically an untapped treasure-trove.
Beyond this, White City also represented wealth.
At this moment, Earth had yet to truly step onto the Dimensional Verse stage. But, soon, it would have to. Once that day came, the usual currencies of Earth would become useless and they would have to adapt to using the money of the universe.
Though Terrain was weak in the grand scheme of things, this was still the wealth of an entire City. On top of this, due to how powerful City Lord White was, White City was prosperous even compared to other Cities. Who knew how much money was lying in its vaults?
As though this wasn't enough of a pull, the Cities of Terrain all had teleportation hubs. Earth had yet to set up such things and didn't have laws to deal with their advent just yet either. But, there was no doubt that there would come a day where Earth had to open itself up to the outside world.
Though it was dangerous to take this step, it also represented an opportunity. The Ascension Empire of Earth grew so powerful because it was able to fuse the cultures of hundreds to thousands of Earth's civilizations from Ancient America to Ancient Europe and Ancient Asia. So, how much more powerful would Earth be if it began to assimilate the cultures of other worlds as well?
The main issue, though, was that Earth didn't have any Force Crafters. This would mean that they would have to rely on others coming to make these teleportation channels for them.
Of course, Earth didn't have to worry about no one coming. After all, with Earth's talent, who didn't want a piece of the pie?
But therein lied the problem. If Earth didn't control these teleportation channels themselves, they were inviting a whole host of problems.
However…. What if they stole these already crafted teleportation channels from Terrain?
It was likely that Terrain, too, had to rely on merchants from another world to form their channels. But, could those merchants really come to Earth to reclaim what was theirs?
They could try… But whether that would work out for them was still up in the air.
This was all to say that White City was a headache that could very well become one of Earth's most important resources. It could only be said that Leonel had a large appetite…
Noah sighed. "Alright. The City is yours."
Noah inwardly shook his head.
'The Dove family won't be happy about this. They're already trying to take two cities for themselves, one of which is currently attacking The Capital… I wonder how Leonel will deal with this…'
Though Noah thought that Leonel had done this for the wealth, he couldn't have been further from the truth. Leonel's plans were far more maddening than this.
A smirk curled Leonel's lip. He didn't have time to waste on a war with Terrain, his top priority at the moment was healing Aina and he couldn't do that here. For that, he had to head to Valiant Heart Mountain.
In that case..... he would just have to end this war prematurely himself.