Combat Maid Harem

"N-No..."

The old man was taken aback. He stared at the tiny drop of blood in a daze.

"*Sigh* We need to continue," Lawrend said to Ember.

She nodded her head, and they repeated the process. They would cut a huge gash on Inferno\'s wrist, and a small drop of blood would drip into the bowl.

After a few attempts, Ember lost her patience.

"Master, why don\'t we cut his hand off?" Ember asked.

"M-Mommy!?" Inferno exclaimed.

"That\'s a good idea."

Lawrend didn\'t think it was a problem. Inferno\'s regenerative ability was so great he suspected he might be able to grow a new hand. Thinking about that made him want to try it.

"Father! I know I can endure this pain, but it will be very painful if you cut my hand off!" Inferno warned them as sweat started pouring down his back.

He felt nervous, seeing that his father was thinking about it.

"That\'s true. Alright. I will use my phoenix mana to counter your healing ability," Lawrend said.

Inferno relaxed. He was still a child even though he was very mature already. Imagining cutting his hand off still scared him.

Lawrend slashed Inferno\'s wrist and then poured his powerful mana into the wound. He forcefully pushed Inferno\'s phoenix mana away and hindered the regeneration. Blood then poured out continuously without stopping.

"And... done."

Lawrend stopped, and Inferno\'s phoenix mana swallowed the rest of Lawrend\'s mana in his wound and then healed the gash in less than a blink of an eye. Lawrend and Ember looked at it and found that there were no lasting scars left.

The old man shakily took the small bowl of blood and placed it on the pedestal. Everyone in the building held their breaths and stared at the magic formation underneath their feet.

The light spread from the pedestal to the whole building, but just as everyone was expecting it to exit the building, the light of the magic formation dimmed without any warning.

"Huh? Did it lose power?"

The receptionist was confused. He lifted the blood from the pedestal and placed it on it again. There were no reactions this time.

"D-Did it break?"

Lawrend and Ember glanced at each other with concern in their eyes. This unknown situation made them nervous.

The receptionist tried again with Ember\'s blood. The pedestal lit up with bright lights that flowed down its length and spread inside the room.

"It\'s working..?"

The current situation made the receptionist confused.

He stood still, thinking, before turning his head to Ember.

"Is he really your son?" he solemnly asked, pointing at Inferno with his nose.

"Yes. He came out of my womb. You can tell from his hair," Ember answered confidently.

"You need to bring him to the Phoenix Main Hall. The magical formation stopped on its own. I can only think of one possibility," the receptionist said with a face so serious that it was out of his character.

Ember gulped and realized what he meant.

The receptionist knew how the bloodline test magic formation worked. The only way it wouldn\'t work was when someone lacked the Ignis bloodline or if someone from a higher-up position had forbidden checking someone\'s blood. He realized that there might be more to this than meets the eye.

Ember herself knew this because she read about it in the clan\'s library. Each of the magical formations in the cities was interconnected and absurdly powerful. It was impossible for them to malfunction. It was as the receptionist thought. Someone must have controlled the formation to forbid the checking of Inferno\'s blood.

The question now became, "Who would do it? And why?"

"Ehem. Please proceed to the Mission room to finalize your mission," the receptionist said.

He tried to act calm, but he was actually scared beyond his wits. This situation was already out of his control. The only reason he was able to pretend to be calm was that he had been shocked too many times in the last ten minutes.

"Thanks."

Ember nodded her head and looked at Lawrend. He and Inferno followed her into another room in the building.

"Everyone, I invoke my rights as a member of the City Clan Hall to order each of you to keep quiet about anything related to the princess\' son that happened here! Violators will have their lineage of three generations stripped of their bloodline and death!"

The whole City Clan Hall started shining as a magical formation was activated. Everyone who saw and listened to the shocking event earlier had marks appear on the back of their right hands. This mark then slowly disappeared.

The power the receptionist used was something that couldn\'t be used lightly. It used the power of the bloodline to mark everyone who was involved.

If they violated the order, the mark would appear again on the back of their right hand. It would be impossible to remove it at that time, even if someone cut their hand off. It would just appear on another body part.

Everyone who got marked glanced at each other. It made many of them feel frustrated. They wanted to spread the news but were stopped before they could.

Thus, they could only spread the news that the princess had a child with someone from outside of the clan. It was a hot topic that quickly reached the ears of some people...

...

"What was that about?" Lawrend asked Ember with a whisper.

"A high-ranking member of the clan interfered earlier, Master. I don\'t know who they are, but their intentions seem to be good," Ember replied.

"Someone stopped the magical formation from fully processing Inferno\'s bloodline?"

"Yes. I believe they were alarmed when they sensed your bloodline result, so they paid greater attention here," Ember replied.