Free Web NovelChapter 353: Chapter 353 - The Grand Conclave of Aretuza 04.
[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Aretuza.
...
...
The music began to play a new melody. Madara held Ciri’s waist with one hand and her hand with the other, extending it, and they began to dance even under everyone’s gaze. Neither of them cared.
Ciri didn’t stop displaying a smile, setting aside all her previous jealousy, as they moved flawlessly across the dance floor.
Those lessons when they were children in Cintra had made them good dancers. Although Madara, at some point, had used his Sharingan to copy all the movements of the best teachers Calanthe had managed to get for them, since he took part in that as well. After all, Calanthe had begun placing him in all the lessons on how a noble should behave because Ciri was too rebellious to attend them alone — but if Madara was with her, she would always participate. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Thus, they remained there on the dance floor the entire time. Ciri said nothing more, only stayed close. Ciri rested her chin on his chest while they kept the rhythm. Other couples danced around them, some trying to get closer, others simply enjoying the night — sorcerers and sorceresses without great ambitions, while most knew their place for being of low rank within the magical community.
In any case, they remained there, in smooth movements, exchanging looks full of tenderness, with delicate touches, as if nothing else existed besides them.
’They must all be looking at us,’ Ciri said, breaking the silence, without moving her lips, speaking telepathically. She didn’t look away to see the people watching them... She only assumed.
’Let them look,’ Madara replied, calmly.
’At least they’ll know we are not some political toy of theirs, and that we belong to each other,’ she said.
’Still jealous?’ Madara teased.
Ciri huffed, giving him an intense look. He laughed.
’It’s alright. This isn’t a common situation,’ Madara admitted. ’These women practically showing their breasts in front of me is not something that can be considered trivial. I understand your anger.’
’Well, we just have to wait for Yennefer and Triss to manage to keep them away... or I can use my spells, otherwise, I’ll summon my sword and heads will roll.’, Ciri commented.
’You could very well use your spells.’ Madara replied.
’I’ll think about it,’ she said, with a slight mischievous laugh.
Madara and Ciri continued dancing, and it wasn’t just one song. When they stopped for a moment, some people approached.
"Excuse me... you must be Lord Madara Uchiha. May I dance with you for a while?", a sorceress asked, with a malicious look and a seductive smile.
Ciri narrowed her eyes at her, but before she could respond, someone also approached from her side.
"Princess Cirilla, I remember your grandmother very well. May we dance for a while?", said a man in a gallant tone, apparently a high noble.
She looked at him with a questioning expression. And the man raised his eyebrow seeing that he was not recognized. "I am a prince of Cidaris, I was at the meeting of kings.", he quickly added.
"You can leave, we don’t dance with anyone else," It was Madara’s voice that came, as he looked at the prince with a dangerous gaze, then at the sorceress who had approached him.
The prince’s smile faltered, and it was even possible to see him flinch slightly at that.
"Of course, Lord Madara, Princess Cirilla," he said, as he withdrew immediately, the woman also apologizing.
That movement was seen by everyone. It was a clear warning so that no one else would try to approach.
"Well, I was about to refuse him... What does he think he’s doing? I’m a married woman, not someone to be courted..." Ciri didn’t like that prince’s attitude either, and then she looked at Madara. "However, you spoke for me..." Ciri teased, with a small laugh.
"What was that?" Madara shrugged.
It was obvious that they were together trying to push others away. ’You seemed so protective, jealous?’, she asked.
’You are my woman. I won’t let anyone approach you,’ he replied simply.
She smiled, satisfied. "As protective as at the balls in Cintra?" she teased, this time speaking out loud, as a new song began.
While they danced under everyone’s gaze, in the upper part of the hall, Hen Gedymdeith observed the dance floor. A group of sorcerers was approaching him.
"My lord, it seems everything is ready," one of the sorceresses said, also looking at the dance below.
"Fufufu... so this is the strongest man in the world..." The same sorceress murmured. "I admit he is unique... and quite handsome. But he is a barrier against the natural order of things. His very existence is challenging kings and magical organizations. If the Continent is to survive, we must eliminate him before he becomes even more powerful."
Hen, beside her, remained silent for a moment, just observing for a while. "Well... everything will be decided tonight. We’ll see if they can handle what’s coming," he finally said. freewebnøvel.coɱ
A man approached Hen at that moment. "I’m receiving a message from one of the contacts. I’ll have to step out to speak, I’ll be back shortly...", said another of them.
Hen looked at him and nodded. "Alright. Go."
The shadows seemed to cross at that moment. Without the sorcerer noticing, something passed through his shadow.
Meanwhile, he went to one of the castle’s balconies and met another sorcerer — one with the symbol of Nilfgaard.
"The shields are prepared for the breaches, no one seems to suspect anything...", said the Northern sorcerer.
"That’s good," replied the Nilfgaardian, taking something out of his pocket — a glowing alchemy crystal.
"What is that?" the other asked.
"Simple. I will give the signal when I make this crystal shine. They will invade Aretuza through the breaches in the shields. Besides that, there are sorceresses on our side here inside, without you knowing."
"Who are they?" the Northern sorcerer asked.
"I don’t even know. They will appear at the right moment. Everyone will have a brooch on their shoulder so we can identify who we shouldn’t attack."
"We won’t just deal with Madara Uchiha... obviously. Yennefer, that witcher, and Triss must also be eliminated. Even Tissaia seems to have some connection with Madara. It might be dangerous to keep her alive."
"Tissaia is a pacifist. It’s obvious she’ll interfere in this. She would never allow Aretuza to be attacked. She’s already on the target list. Lord Emhyr intends to handle that," replied the Northern sorcerer.
"Excellent. Nilfgaard will be grateful for your services."
"We do this for the North. We do this for our future," the sorcerer said.
"And one more thing... something crucial: the girl must stay alive."
"The princess?" the other sorcerer raised an eyebrow upon hearing that.
"Exactly. Orders from the emperor. Anyone who harms her will be dead within weeks. Her life is far too important," he said, with a strong southern accent.
"I understand," the sorcerer replied, believing it was merely a political matter, since Ciri was the princess of Cintra and, therefore, the key to conquering the kingdom definitively.
Minutes later, they returned inside the hall.
There was still a clone within the sorcerer’s shadow, while another was on the ceiling, listening to the entire conversation. He found a point to multiply, creating another clone before disappearing to pass the information to the original.
While dancing, Madara received everything that had been heard. ’So this is how they’re going to act...’, he thought, as his attention returned to Ciri.
’Does something concern you?’ she asked immediately. ’Even without changing your expression, I can see that thoughtful look. When you think like that, it means something troubling is about to happen,’ she said telepathically.
’You could say that. I just heard a conversation. I still don’t know exactly who will attack us. The djinns wouldn’t have that kind of power... I don’t know who Nilfgaard hired. I’ll send some clones outside Aretuza and sweep the entire region,’ Madara replied.
Ciri nodded, but did not hide her concern. Even so, she was preparing for whatever might happen that night. She was more than ready to use everything she had to protect her family.
’Some other Northern mages are also with them. We should keep an eye on those who have a brooch on their shoulder. That’s what the Nilfgaardian sorcerer said,’ Madara continued.
’Did you find anything about that man?’ she asked. She was referring to her father in the south.
’My clone hasn’t sent me anything yet. He won’t risk revealing himself right now either. He’s probably trying to find an opening to act,’ Madara replied.
Meanwhile, in Nilfgaard, a plan was underway.
Inside the imperial palace, the symbol of the sun shone in the large window of the throne room.
Emhyr was seated, listening to petitions for hours. He was already exhausted from hearing nobles complain, matters of the kingdom, and even requests from army commanders, as they organized new lines of black-clad soldiers.
The North had never left his sights.
For him, it was easy to convince some sorcerers to create a plan to try to destroy Madara Uchiha. Even though everyone still saw him as a man trying to conquer the North. To them, Madara was worse, for being someone who could not be controlled.
Emhyr, on the other hand, was still seen as a human — someone who could be managed. Madara... was something everyone feared for the future.
"Your Imperial Majesty, the petitions have ended," the advisor’s voice came.
"Good. I will go to my office," said the emperor, walking on without noticing the shadows moving across the ceiling, following him.
Upon entering the room, there was a huge portrait of Ciri on the wall.
It was a painting of her as a child, perhaps four years old. Her face was sulky and she was a bit chubby, her puffed cheeks not helping much with her clearly irritated expression at having to pose, and the painter had made a point of capturing exactly that expression at that moment.
Madara had already seen that painting a few times and decided that, that night, he would take it with him and give it to the original. The real Madara would probably enjoy seeing Ciri’s reaction when she came across it.
Even so, he kept his gaze fixed on the painting as Emhyr sat down, with the guards positioned at the door.
Then, finally, Madara acted.
He simply appeared before Emhyr. The man was startled, but had no time to react — Madara had already placed him under a genjutsu.
The emperor fell into a trance, his eyes empty.
"It seems we meet again, Emhyr," Madara said.
It was not the first time he had done this. It was easy to invade the palace when the emperor was alone and place him under a genjutsu to extract information.
Madara began to search his mind, but what he found was surprising. Whoever was behind this seemed to know that he could read minds.
Emhyr’s memories of meetings with a certain group had been altered. The identity of those involved was completely hidden. Only fragments remained: Emhyr had made an agreement with a powerful group, but could reveal nothing — not even to himself.
Everything had been manipulated with a single objective: to kill Madara and recover Ciri. "They agreed to this...", Madara murmured.
"Who are you...?" He still tried to search further, but found nothing relevant. He took some papers from the table, finding nothing important.
"Well... whatever it is...", he said, turning back to Emhyr.
Madara took an explosive tag from his pocket, crumpled it, and threw it onto the table.
"Swallow it," he ordered.
The emperor, still in a trance, picked up the paper and placed it in his mouth. Then he brought the wine glass to his lips, drinking to make it go down his throat.
"If anything happens to Ciri tonight, it will be your fault. And then, I will see no more use for you," Madara said coldly. "You are still alive because you are useful to observe Nilfgaard’s plans and maintain a certain balance with the Northern kingdoms... but your value is running out, Emhyr."
He made a brief pause. "After we deal with some problems, you will no longer be necessary. Nilfgaard will finally have an answer for the attack on Cintra years ago."
His voice carried a sinister tone.
Emhyr remained motionless, in a trance. The explosive tag was already in his stomach, and Madara could activate it at any moment, making him explode from the inside out.
Even so, Madara altered his memories, as if nothing had happened.
Then, he disappeared from there, creating a clone to send the information to his original body.
The enemy... was still a mystery.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra Chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra Chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 30 extra Chapters!
👑 HOTD: Jon Arctic! 30 extra Chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra Chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra Chapters!
⚡HP - Jon Arctic as Severus Snape! 30 extra Chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! Finished! [100%]
⚡Danmachi – The Alchemist! [Coming Soon.]
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
