The proposal

"John, you didn't even take long to craft these rings, truly a genius disciple of me! Mario! Hahaha" Mario boasted

"It just that all the materials I need is within grandfather's ring, that made it far easier for me to craft these rings." he modestly replied

But Mario did not believe him, even if all materials are prepared if the blacksmith is not skilled enough, it's impossible to completely craft this rings in just an hour. He did not say anything but he felt extremely proud of his disciple, he personally saw how John perfected his craft, his hammering, rune engraving, refinement, everything that he needs to learn was unselfishly shared by him to his only disciple.

He only wanted him to raise his level as a blacksmith, but he didn't expect that johns level of genius is so abnormal, that he perfected everything he thought him in just a few years.

He believed John would reach this level but he expected it to be after a few centuries. 'Master, if only you are still alive, you could have witnessed your genius grand disciple and the creation of your dream guild' he lamented

"Brother, how are you going to take responsibility for sister Elise?" Diana asked, she crossed her arms across her chest and glared at her brother

John didn't know what got into his sister's mind he looked at his mother and father but they both looked away, his two grandfathers are the same. He heave a sigh and walked to Elise.

Just as John came back, her heart never stopped pounding hard, she felt very nervous, she thought 'it's over, how could I ever be with the prince?'

She is now planning to ask the prince for a replacement for her position as the head of his guards. She felt so embarrassed as she remembered seeing the prince in his birthday suit. She throws a glimpse at John, the other girls are nervous as well, all of them are his fiancee, they are curious and nervous about what John is planning to do.

He slowly walked to her, Elise felt like he is walking for centuries, every footstep makes her heartbeat fast, this is the first time she felt this way, even against enemies with overwhelming strength she felt excitement and thrill, but facing the prince it is the first time for her to feel nervous, and fidgety.

Diane wanted to laugh as she saw Elise panic, she knew her son very well, he won't accept just anyone even if it was chosen by her unless the acknowledges person himself. She is confident that the twins have already been accepted by John, just from the sparring session, she could tell how different he treated the twins and how intimate his actions were.

Elise wanted to run and hide, but instead of running, her body felt heavy and she lost all strength to stand and run.

John stood in front of Elise and bowed as he held out his hand, "how do you propose to solve this problem my lady?"

Elise is lost in thought, she didn't know what to do, her face is crimson right now, and her breathing is very hard. Her heartbeats so loud that everyone can hear it's sound. She looked at her fiance and saw him smiling at her, she felt even more shy. Then she reluctantly held his hand and weakly stood up, feeling johns hands she felt a shock that run through her body.

Elise lost her balance and before she fell she closed her eyes and noticed that she is being held in a very warm embrace, John hugged her to his chest while holding her hand and his other hand tightly holding her back. Instinctively Elise rested her head on johns chest feeling his warmth, she felt very comfortable and safe in his arms, she didn't open her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his embrace.

The other girls felt jealous, they also wanted to be hugged by the prince, imagining themselves in Elise place, the girls can't help but blush in shyness.

"Brother how long are you planning to hold my sister?" the little girl asked wittily

Jonathan then cleared his throat, Elise woke up from her sweet dream and panicked, 'i was hugged by the prince,' she slowly lifted her head and saw her man firmly holding her in his arms, that devilish smile on his face, gave off an irresistible charm that made her fall even deeper into him.

John bent his head closer to her ears and whispered "prince I know we've been engaged by the Queen, I don't know if it's the right decision, since it's been a one-sided love in the first place. But I know that in this lifetime I can only love one person and it's you, your highness, please come back soon."

When the words got processed by her, she blushed even more and hid her face in his chest and her other hand pounded his chest, to those who saw them felt that they were flirting with each other.

Jonathan and Diane just laughed at the two, while the old men felt happy for John. Diana, got jealous and left her mothers embrace and jumped in the middle of the two hugging her brother. "Sister Elise only I can hug my big brother... Mom as well" she shared at Elise

Everyone laughed loudly, "sister I won't steal your brother from you," defended Elise

"Isn't it you who asked your big brother to take responsibility for your sister?" Jonathan asked his daughter

"Why does brother need to hug sister Elise? Nooooo... Only I can hug my big brother," she tightly hugged johns neck

"Come her now baby" Diane called Diana

"Noooo... Big brother is mine, " looking at the princess acting spoiled everyone laughed

Elise stood beside john and would throw glimpse at him every now and then.

"Sister, didn't you want me to take responsibility for your sister Elise?" John asked

"Yes, but how is it that you kept hugging her? Is she that much better to hug than me?" Diana innocently asked

"My sister is the best, much better to hug than your sister Elise" then he kissed her forehead

She got down from her brother's embrace and hopping she walked to her mother.

John held Elise's hand and took out a jade box, he opened it and proposed to her, "Elise will you marry me?" he asked

Elise felt lost, she is not prepared for this, her heart is about to burst from too much shock, it would not stop from beating hard.

Everyone is shocked once again, too many surprises in just a day, Johns sudden proposal shocked even Jonathan and Diane. They knew that it's not just on a whim, their son never made any rash decision.

The girls felt envious of Elise, they also wanted to be proposed with by the prince. It's never been a custom in this world to propose in such a way before marriage, many would just consummate and declare their marriage. Thus, the actions made by John looked very romantic and sincere from the girl's point of view.

John asked Elise "do you need more time to think and organize your feeling before I propose?"

"Ahhh... No no no... Yes, I'm willing to marry the prince" she hastily replied

Diane laughed loudly, the cold and silent Elise lost her bearing and composure many times now. She felt like looking at a different person.

"Mother what is marriage?" Diana asked

"It's when, a man and a woman fell in love and live together like mom and dad," she said

John then took out the ring from the box and placed it on her ring finger, the ring is deep blue with a big blue diamond at its center. It's very beautiful, and on Elise's slim and long fingers the ring looked perfect. She couldn't believe what happened, just like that she has promised to marry the prince. This is the happiest day of her life, everyday she would visit the same spot at the edge of the garden and report to the prince, she would also share many things to him.

Diane felt relieved, she thought John would not marry his fiancee because they were chosen by her. To her surprise, her son proposed and made a ring for her.

John pulled Elise in his arms and held her chin, and slowly he gave her soft lips a deep kiss, to her surprise Elise forgot to breathe so her mouth opened wide to gasp for air but John slipped his tongue inside her mouth and kisses her even deeper. She clumsily tried to answer John's naughty tongue, but her response only led to a furious sucking by John having her lost her breath.

The girls placed their hands on their mouths as they saw the kiss between the two. Their faces turn crimson, and their hearts pounding hard. Eleanor and Claudia are the boldest ones in the group but we're speechless with what they saw. 'Sister Elise seems like she's enjoying the kiss.'

"Looking at our grandson I guess it won't be long if we could have another cute grandchild," Alfred said to Mario

The old man smiled and counted his possible grandchild along with Alfred. Jonathan and Diane felt happy with their son's proposal to Elise, seeing the couple kissing deeply, Jonathan pulled Diane in his embrace

"Mother why are you covering my eyes, I can't see anything" complained the little Diana

But Diane didn't release her hands, after a minute Jonathan cleared his throat and John pulled himself from Elise's lips.

Elise on the other hand is still deep in ecstasy, unable to process and forget the sweet kiss she had with John. Her eyes are still closed and her lips are still open. When John saw this he reached out his hand and touched her chin as he slowly closed her lips. And gently wiped the saliva with his thumb.

Elise woke up and felt embarrassed, she had always been prim and proper, and never in her life did she act wildly as she did now, am not to mention. She did it in front of everyone, but she doesn't feel any regrets and wanted to reciprocate John's feelings.

John pulled her to his side and princess carried her as he brought her to his chair while she sat on his lap. Like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, Elise sat quietly on his lap.

"Hahaha... Boy, you are bold, just like your old man" Jonathan bragged, as he had Diane sitting on his lap as well while Diana is be in held by his mother.

The girls breathed heavily, how sweet and domineering, they also wanted to be dominated by John. He is very unrestrained, his face is wickedly beautiful, his smile is devilish.

They never felt this kind of attraction to the other sex, they felt very envious of Elise, looking at her face while she clumsily kissed back, she looks like she enjoys the feeling.

The family discussed many topics regarding the empires affairs, everyone is happy while Elise wanted to return to her seat but she is held by John's arms firmly. Diana wanted to be at Elise position, but she is held by her mother. She glared at Elise for stealing her spot.

"Son the blacksmith guild is already established, what is the next course of action?"

"Let's release nationwide recruitment for blacksmiths, the ten immortal blacksmiths will recruit 10000 of the most promising citizen and train them as the next generation blacksmiths, if they have their old disciples and apprentice they could include them and the new one to their team.

The guild will all work in one place, for now, we need to make a firm foundation to carry out the legacy, and prevent the same catastrophe that occurred before. The quality of smiths must be maintained at its topmost.

Once the central guild is able to train 1000 saint blacksmith with an acceptable level of expertise we will start making branches.

Every city must have a blacksmith branch, and each will be led by a saint blacksmith, each branch head must train ten apprentice and once the apprentice reaches the Saint realm he could assume the previous heads position, the head of a branch once he reached immortal level will be transferred to the main branch and further train his skills. If the immortal blacksmith can't produce an apprentice to assume his position the central branch will send a new saint smith to replace the immortal smith of the branch."

John stated his plans, Mario has no comment on this, he will do as his disciple decides to do.

"With master assessing the smiths, the quality of smiths leading the branches is no doubt capable," he said, Mario sat proudly hearing his disciples praise

"What is your purpose for this many blacksmiths?" Jonathan asked why is there a need for many blacksmiths, and high-level ones as well.

"From the memories of ancestor, I saw many civilizations and races with more advanced living standards, and technology" he sent a voice transmission to his parents, grandfather and Elise

"I want to improve our living standards and technology to establish a bigger and stronger empire." he declared his plans

Everyone could feel his determination, "what kind of civilization did he see that made him dream to accomplish?"