Legacy of the Void Fleet

Chapter 429: Ch

And despite not speaking or asking anything yet, her eyes told an entirely different story as they thundered toward Celest with thousands of unspoken questions within them.

Despite this, Celest remained impassive and completely unfazed by the curiosity-filled gaze of Empress Valoria, ignoring it entirely.

Smoothly transitioning back to business, Celest stated,

"The Archduke of the West from House Eldergrove arrived not too long ago and is currently waiting not far from your present position. Once your legions align with each other, you shall enter the Stargate to reach the outer zone of our core territory, which you also know as the Holy Region."

"Stargate?" questioned Empress Valoria, as the term was entirely unfamiliar to her and she had no idea what it meant. So she couldn’t help but ask, "what is a Stargate?"

Celest calmly nodded her head. "Yes. Stargate. Stargates are basically like wormholes, just far more stable and controllable."

Not wanting to go too deep into her explanation, Celeste only briefly explained their functionality by relating them to wormholes. It might not have been entirely accurate, but who cared? Thinking that, Celeste added,"It is one of the creations of the Void Fleet. If you release your divine sense, you may discover what I am referring to."

"Okay."

Empress Valoria nodded her head without thinking much about it at first, but only a moment later she quickly realized what Celest had been referring to and could not help but be caught off guard.

"W-How did you..."

But before she could even properly construct the words, she swallowed them whole with a gulp as she saw Celest smiling faintly, completely ignoring the sudden awkward situation.

At the same time, Valoria’s thoughts raced. ’How did she realize my realm? After all, not everyone’s divine sense could cover light-years of distance.’

To Valoria, it almost felt as if her secrets had been exposed before this elf, leaving her with no choice but to ignore the matter for now and become even more cautious around Celest.

Soon after, she released her divine sense, which rapidly spread across nearly one and a half light-years of distance.

And almost immediately, she could not help but suck in a deep breath.

Hints of danger and even death radiated from not just a few of the ships deployed around the system, shocking and astonishing her once again.

Ignoring that for the moment, she shifted her focus toward one particular artificial construct.

A gigantic ring-like structure anchored in space.

Around it, minute yet unmistakable spatial fluctuations could be sensed.

Valoria took an even deeper breath as realization struck her regarding what Celest had said.

Connecting the concept together with the structure before her, astonishment surged through her heart.

"No way... they were actually able to create and master something this groundbreaking."She muttered inwardly before briefly glancing toward Celest once more.

And clearly, she saw a trace of pride hidden within Celest’s eyes.

At that moment, a thought surfaced within Valoria’s mind. ’These Void Fleeters are far from as simple as they appear. Their depth is even greater than what they have shown the galaxy so far. Fortunately, Aria had been smart enough to break the alliance they once had with those people.’

’Otherwise... they might truly have suffered a far worse fate.’

"That giant ring-like structure... are you referring to that when you say Stargate, lady? Oh, wait, look at me, how forgetful I am. Can you tell me your name? With all this pressure, I really am forgetting even such simple things."

Valoria sighed as she shook her head with a bitter expression, almost sounding apologetic.

"It is not a big matter, Empress. Please do not act like this, or I might become embarrassed."

"My name is Celeste Eternalis, former member of the Elfenheim Empire and now a loyal subject of the Imperial Emperor and Vice Admiral of his Grand Space Navy."

"And as for the giant ring, yes indeed, I was referring to that." She spoke with a casual smile.

Valoria, however, was no longer focused on the Stargate or the gigantic ring-like structure. Instead, her attention had completely shifted toward Celeste’s name and surname.

"Celeste Eternalis... huh. Eternalis... I think I have heard that name before." She openly muttered while intentionally ignoring the part where Celeste referred to herself as a former member of Elfenheim.

At this moment, however, her facial expression subtly changed, becoming noticeably colder and more neutral specifically toward Celeste.

And even hints of disdain unknowingly appeared on Valoria’s face at this moment, along with traces of disgust.

All of it came from the fact that she clearly felt this elf standing before her had truly and completely forsaken her origins to become part of another race, something that naturally disgusted her.

If not for the current situation, she would have wished for nothing more than to remind this child of her origins and lecture her about how one’s roots could never truly be abandoned and all the other ideals tied to it.

Celeste, however, noticed the subtle changes in the empress’s expression immediately and understood that this was enough.

Without showing even the slightest change in her own face, she smoothly redirected the conversation and calmly brought it toward an end.

"Empress, please lead your fleet along the designated pathway." Celeste instructed gently, still carrying the same calm and steady tone without a shred of change within it.

"And once your fleet joins with that of Archduke Eldergrove, we will immediately activate the Stargate, paving a route for you to pass through and proceed toward your next destination."

"There, another fleet will welcome you and guide you directly toward the central star system and the Celestial Void World to attend the ceremony."

Saying that, a glint of unreadable emotion passed through Celeste’s eyes, though nobody knew what it truly meant.

As if not wanting to displease the empress with her forwardness, she quickly added,

"Many more guests will soon be arriving here, and I must welcome them as well. So, if you will excuse me, Empress Valoria." Celeste bowed slightly for a brief moment.

Valoria waved her hand lightly and replied, "Oh, please, go on with your work, Lady Celeste."

Hearing this, Celeste did not say another word and directly cut the communication feed.

Her holographic projection vanished instantly.

Back within her flagship, Celeste found herself standing beside her desk as the stiff yet seemingly natural and polite expression on her face slowly melted away, replaced instead by a faint smirk.

"How did you like that, Empress?" she whispered softly to herself within the empty room where only she was present.

"What did you say so casually...? I remember this name?" Celeste gritted her teeth.

Clenching her fist tightly before herself, she spoke again, this time with traces of madness and hatred flashing within her eyes. "Oh, I promise you... I promise you that you will remember this name."

"And not only my name, but the name of my house as well."

"Soon enough, I will make you regret not taking action when my house was razed to the ground because of biased judgment and lies."

As those thoughts surfaced, dark memories began appearing within Celeste’s mind.

She had been barely eight years old at the time.

Her house, though now only a baron family, had once been royalty within the empire. At its peak, her family had even held the title of a Level-3 Marquis House before declining generation after generation until it eventually became merely a baron family.

Even then, however, it still possessed influence far greater than that of an ordinary baron house.

After all, as the saying went, "A starving camel is still bigger than a horse."

And in this case, the saying was completely true.

Yet at some point, her family became the target of another marquis house that coveted the inheritance left behind by the previous patriarch of her family, the very man who had built their house and once brought it to its peak.

When they failed to obtain it through normal means, they framed her family.

Then, under the banner and authority of the empress, they attacked her house in the shadows of the night, reducing it to the ground amidst the blood of her loved ones.

If not for her father’s foresight, who only a single day before the attack had secretly arranged for her to leave the house alongside one of his trusted comrades, even she would not have survived that brutal night of slaughter.

And the funniest part?

Even after all of that, those people did not leave behind even a shred of dignity or respect for her family.

Instead, they made it appear to the common people that her house had been evil all along, secretly colluding with the Dark Elven Empire and demonic realm forces to destroy their own empire.

How laughable.

And seemingly, even the royal family had silently supported it.

And that hatred... she had carried it within herself ever since the age of eight until now.

But fate was truly strange, was it not?