Gunmage
Chapter 166: A fertile secret

Chapter 166: Chapter 166: A fertile secret

There was silence in the Von Heim Library.

Sylvera had momentarily stopped reading.

Mirelle and Aveline had halted their chess game. Marcus kept biting his thumbnail while Enji reclined in his seat, looking as unbothered as ever.

It was a mystery what a blind person was doing in a library, but no one asked.

Save for a few, the rest were moody—and it was all because of the passage their aunt had just read aloud:

Lugh Von Heim, a mere fifteen years old, had single-handedly taken on seventeen experienced beastkin, slaughtered half, captured one, and forced the rest to flee.

He displayed a level of prowess previously unheard of in a human, rivaling that of the elves.

Two titles have already taken root: "The Officer of Death" (given his apparent rank and lethal efficiency) and my personal favorite, "The Priest of Blood."

I do not envy the Von Heim younger generation. Nor do I envy my own son’s future interactions with this terrifying prodigy.

The pressure on the established houses must be immense. If Lugh is allowed to mature... the future of Ophris is anyone’s guess.

They had already known of this. But hearing it laid out so blatantly, spelled out in cold, precise language, was something else entirely.

Mind-numbing.

"Where even is he?"

"You don’t think that explosion yesterday had anything to do with him, do you?"

They all glanced at Sela.

She shrugged.

"Who knows."

But she most definitely knew. Although Isolde’s shadows had swept the corridors clean and the incident was handled in utter secrecy, Sela had lived in this house long enough to know the truth.

The explosion had centered on Lugh’s room. It must have been an assassination attempt.

And she wasn’t going to let anyone else know, especially not members of the Von Heim branch family.

In the Cross Manor, a different tension simmered.

Xhi shot an endearing look at the elf seated across her.

"Madame Cross"

She began.

"Can you win against seventeen beastkin?"

The woman flinched for a moment but quickly regained her poise.

"Easily. What do you take me for?"

"You don’t seem too surprised."

"Well, this was to be expected"

The auburn-haired elf replied coolly.

"Selaphiel has made it a habit of marrying into her own bloodline every few generations. Recently, her morals seemed to have slackened—directly marrying her grandsons. Disgusting, I know... but quite effective."

Lyra blinked.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up—what?!"

The elf continued

"After generations of this... inbreeding, their genes have become saturated with the blood of an ancient elf.

Lugh appeared way earlier than intended, but someone like him was sure to appear soon."

This was the first time they had heard of any of this.

Xhi remained neutral, while Lyra wore a twisted expression.

She spoke.

"So are you trying to say Lugh is a half-elf? Or at least that his father was?"

"Madame Cross"—as Xhi had dubbed her—paused.

"In theory, yes. Physically, no."

"What do you mean by that?"

"A union between elf and man can produce elves with lower magical affinity than average, or humans with greater capabilities.

The former is rare. There is no real middle ground. Or rather—this is the middle ground.

Sometimes you get perfectly normal elves or humans. Think of it as dominant and recessive traits.

A grafted tree that produces mangoes and guavas. Sometimes the mangoes could be sweeter, or the guavas softer. But never an abominable mixture of both."

She paused to let them process.

"I have no idea what Selaphiel is thinking, or what the Von Heims are planning. If the Empyrean Court ever finds out... the entire family would be wiped out."

"...Wow. This is some serious business."

"Yes. It’s also my leverage over Selaphiel. If she ever tries to kill me, I can threaten her with this.

She doesn’t know how many people I’ve told, so she can’t move against me. In simpler terms—"

She glanced at them all

"—you’re now a part of my insurance policy. Make sure to keep this conversation a secret."

Sofia gulped.

Xhi, unfazed, spoke.

"Knowledge remains an ever-useful tool. Since you’re using me, I’ll use you. Tell me more about the Von Heim family."

Madame Cross looked uncertain for the first time.

"...What do you want to know?"

"From your words, I’ve gathered that unions between elf and man tend to produce elves. Pure or not, an elf is still an elf.

Considering how old Selaphiel is, doesn’t that mean they already have a small army of them?"

"You’re half right and half wrong"

She replied slowly.

"Yes, the Von Heim family has a ton of hidden elves... a whole clan of them."

Wha—

Lyra straightened, alarm in her eyes.

The elf turned to her.

"We of the Cross family, along with countless others, may be called ’great’ houses. But compared to the true strength of the Von Heim family, we’re nothing. I digress."

She inhaled, steadying herself.

"They might have numbers, but Selaphiel isn’t the cause of this."

"Explain,"

Xhi urged, fully intrigued now.

"Well, you see, it’s extremely difficult for an elf to bear a child. Beastkin, with their shorter lifespans, even compared to humans, reproduce easily. But we elves have a conception rate of less than two percent.

A union with a human can multiply those odds severalfold—even then, it rarely exceeds nine percent. This was discovered millennia ago, when Ophris was still under Jazeer’s colonial rule."

Everyone was now silent. The way her voice carried, the excitement with which she spoke, it was clear she was a scholar at heart.

A professor of secrets... one of the good kinds.

She continued.

"The downside is, the offspring might not necessarily be an elf. You get what I’m saying?"

"Yes,"

Xhi nodded.

"What you’re saying is: while Selaphiel might have had many partners, she won’t have had many children. And from them, not all would be elves."

"Exactly!"

Cross exclaimed, almost delighted.

"There’s just one tiny problem, though."

"A problem?"

"Yes."

Then her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned forward.

"I suspect Selaphiel may have gotten her hands on some sort of... fertility spell."