"I refuse!... Your Majesty."

"..."

"But why? All the riches! All the comforts of being royalty! You won't ever have to go on life-threatening missions either!" King Highland asked, appearing saddened.

But Sylvester smelled the same scent as the last time—lies. For some reason, he realized King Highland was lying to him. His persona of being kind and gentle was likely not false, but this one thing about adopting him was definitely a lie. Why? He'd have to find out on his own.

"This is my life now. All the people I know, the friends and families, all expect something from me, and that expectation is from this life I am living right now. I have given myself to the service of Solis, and I do not plan on leaving this anytime soon." Sylvester replied.

King Highland nodded and smiled. With that, Sylvester was pleasantly shocked to sense the scent of tulips, a sign that some sort of worship was emerging in the man's mind.

'I should seal the deal with my ultimate move. Maybe then I can induce some more worship.' Sylvester thought.

King Highland was already full of praise, however. "This is the first time I'm seeing someone reject a whole Kingdom."

Sylvester replied instantly, trying to make himself appear wiser. "If it's not earned, then there are no lessons learned. If you make a king by simply picking someone off the streets, then the days of your kingdom are numbered. Experiences speak louder than any words in a book, your majesty—if you insist on making a king such as this, then it'd be your legacy's travesty."

Sylvester, not giving time to anyone to speak, raised his right hand and spread light. Then he looked directly into King Highland's eyes as he started to sing, with a halo behind him.

♫For long, the lord's edicts have been erect.

The laws of mankind on which we act.

A slave or a king—we all must come to respect.

All must await until fate and duty intersect.

This is the law, the light that makes us perfect.♫

♫We're souls stuck between the godly realm and hell.

We must keep our hearts open for the holy bells.

All are born with a purpose, and so it compels.

If you do not serve, against you, the heavens shall rebel!

For we're just little strands of magic in the lord's grand spell!♫

Sylvester didn't make it too long as it was normally hard to make hymns regarding a situation in real-time. But, it seemed the intended effect was already visible since he could feel the scent of a tulip on his tongue—a strong one this time.

'Good, now, I only need to throw the final ball.'

Sylvester stopped singing and stared at King Highland. "Your majesty, you should be more focused on preparing your lands for the eventual war. If the people of Highland stay as poor as they are now, they won't survive. At the same time, the world is seeing an increase in the number of bloodlings."

The King, however, was still looking at Sylvester in worship as if he was going to, at any time, explode in light.

"Your majesty?"

"Ah!" The man shook up. "Lord Bard, can you ask the great Solis to bless my queen-wife and me with a natural-born child?"

"..."

'What the… this has backfired! I am no expert on childbirth!' Sylvester internally frowned while keeping the guise of a calm and collected young man outside.

He started to think of ways to help this man have a kid. In this era, there was nothing such as test tube babies. It was all done naturally, and if you can't, your neighbor would before you even know. Of course, that's not possible in the case of royals, as bloodline matters.

In the end, he could not understand what the King's problem was. But he needed a plausible treatment that he could shrug off later, that if it did not work, then Solis wishes not to bless him.

"Come with me to my room, your majesty." He got up and walked away.

The King also silently walked behind, and soon the room door was shut. Inside, Sylvester asked the King about the problems. "So, what's the exact problem? Are you not able to perform it?"

The King quickly shook his head. "No, not at all, Lord Bard. In fact, we can do it for hours every single day, multiple times. And we satisfy each other quite thoroughly."

Sylvester nodded as he didn't sense any lies from the king. But he had to take another look at the white-bearded man with the sex drive of a god, it seemed.

'Could it be low level or low quality of sperm? Well… I think I'm an expert on sperm in some ways.' He suddenly remembered the horrific experience of being stuck as a sperm for who knows how long.

But, as he thought about it, he was once again reminded that there could be people stuck in his and this King's jewels. 'God, I need to forget this again.'

He needed to think in peace, so he turned around and walked to the window to look outside, not the King's hopeful face. It was a strange situation as well, one that left him weirded out because he never expected a king to be this friendly to him. But he reckoned it was perhaps due to him being born in the Highland Kingdom and also being a prospective future big man in the church.

As he looked outside, he noticed Miraj sitting outside the window on the cloth hanging rails and grooming himself. Seeing the furry boy, Sylvester remembered something. 'Wait… don't I have that ginseng from a while ago? From that stable master's land? It's known to increase the quality of the sperm, and even quantity as well as libido.'

He walked closer to the window and whispered to the cat. "Chonky, give me those strange root plants you had taken from the horse fields. Give me fifty of them."

Miraj looked back and quietly tilted his head left and right like a puppy as if he didn't understand what this strange human was saying.

"What? Do it fast, boy."

But there was silence, and Miraj acted like an ordinary cat, licking his paws. Finally, Sylvester sighed and agreed to the unspoken exchange. "Fine, I will get you a banana."

"Oh, Maxy! You should have said that first thing." Miraj spoke instantly and started vomiting. Thankfully, he was now slowly adapting and didn't make as much noise.

"Uwaaa…"

Eventually, Sylvester held fifty ginseng roots in his arms as he turned around. "I think I have a solution, but nothing is guaranteed, for the final gift is in the hands of the lord! But, if so he desires, not just one but hundreds could be your reward."

King Highland was slightly above 150 years old at this stage and was still considered to be in his prime. At the same time, he had been married to his beloved for a century now, and they didn't even have a single child where they should have had great-grandkids already.

Being deprived of a child was one of the biggest curses parents in love could go through. And the pain increases many times when no healer can identify what even the problem is.

King Highland considered Sylvester a mere child, but seeing his blessing, he just held on to that thin little ray of hope called the Bard of the Lord. He knew Queen Trinity wept, longing for a child, but never showing it in the open, and as a good husband, he was ready to try anything—go to any length to heal her broken heart.

"This root can help me?" King Highland asked in surprise.

Sylvester could only nod weakly. "As I said, there is a possibility it might. But let me first do something."

He put the roots on the table and poured light from his palms just for the theatrics. It was strong as it blinded everyone for a few seconds, but the roots looked clean and fresh by the end.

"Your majesty, eat this every single day, not more than five grams… and you may give it to the Queen as well. Do not over-exceed, however, for it may hurt instead of cure. Also, after eating this regularly, you may have an increased desire to get intimate, so be mindful of that." He gave simple instructions for the root.

"What is this miracle plant? Why has nobody heard of it before?" King Highland asked.

Of course, Sylvester was not going to give the name. But he also wanted to test whether the King would keep a secret for him. "None know because we are far too drowned in the realm of magic that we fail to see the miracles nature has created. However, this root is still experimental, and once I am sure of its properties, I will reveal it to the world. But, for now, please keep it a secret."

King Highland looked at the strange root as if it was worth more than all the gold in the world. "If… If this does help me… I wil…"

Sylvester raised his palm and stopped the man. "Do not make any commitments. The disappointment is harder that way. Keep your expectations low, say the name of the lord, and hope for the heavenly reward. May the holy light enlighten us!"

"May the holy light enlighten us." Repeated the King after Sylvester.

That was all Sylvester was willing to do for this first meeting, however. It was better to maintain an air of mystery around himself instead of appearing like an open book. After all, he needed to ensure he was on the King's mind for the months to come. As for the baby, that was all God's plan.

King Highland took the cue that he had overstayed his welcome. So he respectfully bid farewell. "Thank you for this gift of hope, Lord Bard. If you ever need something, you know how to contact me. Until we meet again, I bid you a warm goodbye."

Sylvester shook the man's hand and led him towards the main door. But, as the King Highland moved out, he looked back at Lady Aurora. "Will you not leave?"

She scoffed and pointed at Xavia. "Your mum and I have forged a friendship, and she teaches me to make honey cookies. You won't know since you were missing for five days."

Sylvester made a scowling face and just shook his head. He waved goodbye to King Highland and shut the door. There was no need to escort a Grand Wizard into Holy Land, after all.

He went to the kitchen and started to take whatever edible things he could. "I am starving."

Xavia hurried to stop him. "Max, just wait. I will cook you something good. Don't eat these snacks for regular food."

Sylvester didn't argue with her knowing very well it was pointless. So he just took an apple and a banana and sat down in the dining room, just opposite Lady Aurora.

'Why is this woman staying here? Is she sent by the Lord Inquisitor? The Pope? What's their purpose? Mum?' Sylvester was trying to read every worst-case scenario possible.

Lady Aurora eventually got annoyed. "Stop staring at me, Priest Sylvester."

"Ah!"

All of a sudden, Xavia's cry came, followed by her taking a rest by the counter. Sylvester quickly got up to check. "What happened?"

She smiled wryly and went back to work. "It's nothing, dear. Just some neck and back pain. I've got myself checked, it's just some strain on the back."

Sylvester, however, glanced at her body and frowned. He could somewhat guess why the pain was there. "Mum, what's your bust size?"

"..."

"What?!" Lady Aurora exclaimed, while on Xavia's face, silence remained.

_______________________

GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!